


A Crown Made of Dragon Bones

by daehyunsleggings



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Fluff, M/M, also daehyun is a n e r d and i love it, and if you don't love it then that sucks for you because nerd!dae is the b e s t, anyways main himdae with side bangjae and jonglo. like really really REALLY side., idk how tagging on ao3 works? i've never done this before, it's there if you squint hard enough, this is gonna be really long oops good luck have fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 19:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8590255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daehyunsleggings/pseuds/daehyunsleggings
Summary: Himchan worked in the mountains, tending to dragons of every breed imaginable, both young and old. Or, at least, he thought so. One day, though, a slightly-awkward boy showed up at the top of the mountain, filled with knowledge of things Himchan had never even imagined - including many, many more dragons than he thought could possibly live.





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey, it’s okay.” Himchan patted the dragon’s neck gently. His name was Vita. He was a bit of a wild thing, and at the moment, he wouldn’t calm down. He was flapping his wings wildly, and Himchan would have probably gotten hit if he wasn’t used to this. He felt the dragon rumble in its throat under his hand. His eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?” Vita stopped flapping his wings but kept them extended out. He snorted heavily through his nose. Himchan could feel the cold air from his nostrils chill his surroundings. There was something wrong. He frowned and patted his neck again, then began walking away, towards the small house.

Himchan was one of the only people there. There was a tall, younger boy working there. Himchan knew him because he’d had to take him out for his first dragon ride. The boy had loved it. His name was Junhong. He usually kept to himself, and he was best friends with Zerelth, a smaller, black dragon that mainly played with electricity. She was trained carefully so she wouldn’t become destructive, as were all of the dragons that could breathe the elements. There were very few lightning dragons at the camp. Most of them were peaceful and couldn’t breathe anything, and those that weren’t were generally fire or ice only. Himchan had seen the occasional dragon that could use both, though. Lightning dragons were very, very rare, and they were taken very good care of. They were pretty reckless, and they loved to play, so they needed constant care. Thankfully, Junhong had become best friends with Zerelth and a few of the other lightning dragons, so he was always with them. Himchan had seen him sleeping over in the lightning dragon den a few times, usually curled up under Zerelth’s tail or laying on her back.

The path to the house was long and not much of a path. The ground he walked on was generally either scorched or frozen, since the baby dragons were trained there and always, _always_ scuttled off to go play around, often damaging the earth. They often got scolded by the older dragons, but none of them were ever hurt. They were actually adorable when they were young. They couldn’t walk well, and there was nothing more amusing that seeing them bounce around like kittens.

Himchan felt a small, fluffy thing brush up against his leg at the thought. Of course, the stable cat was walking with him. The stable cat loved him. It never left him alone. He chuckled and bent down, scratching the cat’s ears. “Hey, Watson, how are you?” Watson meowed in response, then growled quietly. Himchan cocked his head at Watson in confusion. “Something wrong with you, too?” He stood up and combed through his black hair with his hand, then kept walking.

The house was far in the distance - really far in the distance. Dragons took up a lot of space, after all. It took at least fifteen minutes to walk to the house if you were at the opposite end of the camp. It took even longer when the young dragons were jumping around. They were pretty reckless and got in the way a lot. Junhong got in the way a lot, too. He thoroughly enjoyed jumping around with the young dragons, too. He had a lot of energy and being around the dragons was good for him.

They were up on a mountain. Not high enough to be hard to breathe, but high enough so the dragons wouldn’t fly into the towns. They needed their wing space. Plus, they didn’t want to upset the townsfolk. They’d been faced by angry guards threatening to kill the dragons before. Not because the dragons had done something, though. They just hated dragons.

Himchan couldn’t see why.

The grass that wasn’t burned or covered in frost was a lively green. It was dancing gently in the wind. He could see some of the dragons stretching their wings in satisfaction. The soft wind wasn’t strong enough to knock a person over, but it was strong enough to ruffle up some clothes and hair, and strong enough that the dragons could feel it on their scales. There were more mountains in the distance, most a stony grey color, but a few of them were covered with snow. There were other dragon camps, but they didn’t communicate much. It was hard to. Some of the ice dragons were transferred to the colder camps if they seemed to struggle at Himchan’s camp, but that was about it. Junhong had a friend at another camp not far, though, and sometimes he flew with Zerelth over there. There was a nice waterfall on the mountain of Himchan’s camp, and the dragons sometimes drank from it while flying. _While flying._ Himchan remembered the first time Junhong had seen a flying dragon drink.

He’d screamed. It was funny. Junhong really loved the dragons. Himchan was pretty sure Junhong had some dragon blood in him. He wasn’t sure how, but once he swore he’d seen Junhong calm Zerelth down when he was being rowdy by making some… Weird, guttural mumbling noise. Dragonborn people were a myth, though, so Himchan was really, really confused. He didn’t let it bother him much, though. He had more important things to deal with.

There were flowers by the earth dragon den. It only made sense, but there were a lot of flowers. Every time they got burned down or even singed, they were regrown within a week. The earth dragons were really the only reason this mountain was still stable. They were more calm and kept everything under control. Himchan was pretty sure the mountain would be a wreck without them. It kind of already was, but in a good way. Controlled chaos. Himchan liked the earth dragons.

There were all kinds of flowers. Some of them were pink, others were blue, tall, short, wide, dull, colorful, common, rare. There were so many plants there that Himchan hadn’t even known existed. There were a few dragons sitting under some of the massive trees that they’d helped grow. Simply being around the earth dragons was calming and helped nature flourish. They were precious and sweet. If any of the other dragons were sad, they’d always nuzzle up to them and comfort them. They did that with the humans, too.

Himchan kicked the dirt off his shoes on the mat outside of the house. One of the workers there had made it themself, stitching the words “dragon tamer” into it as a joke. It was one of the most simple yet most memorable things at the camp. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, stepping in slowly. He closed the door behind him and looked around. The upper floor was simple with a fire where they cooked food and a huge table where all of the dragon camp staff ate their meals together. Someone was sitting on the bench connected to the table. Himchan didn’t recognize him. Maybe that was why the camp was uneasy.

“Hey, you,” Himchan called out. His voice came out sharper than intended. The man on the bench jumped in surprise and then stood up, turning to face Himchan quickly. Himchan took note of his face. It was unfamiliar. Maybe he was a transfer from another camp. It happened every once in a while. “Who are you?”

The man licked his lips. “Daehyun. My name is Daehyun.”

“Surname?”

“Jung.”

“Hm.” Himchan furrowed his eyebrows. “Haven’t heard of you before.” He looked Daehyun up and down. He wasn’t too tall, but he wasn’t short, either. His hair was black, slightly fluffy, and wasn’t parted. He had a big nose, thick lips, and a mole below his left eye. His clothes looked new; he was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of slightly baggy, beige pants.

“A tall guy told me to sit here and wait for someone named Himchan. Is that you?”

“Yeah, it is.” Himchan looked around the room, then sighed. He walked over next to Daehyun and stopped by the staircase, then leaned over the railing to call out, “Junhong!”

“Yeah?” a quiet voice echoed. Himchan stood up and a few minutes later, Junhong appeared up the stairs. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Who else would it be?”

“Zerelth?” Junhong tried.

“Dragons can’t talk, Junhong.”

“You just don’t understand them!”

Himchan rolled his eyes, then pointed over his shoulder at Daehyun. “Who’s this?”

“Ouch,” Junhong said, sticking his tongue out at Himchan. He stepped over to stand by Daehyun. “He has a name.”

“It’s Daehyun,” Daehyun said. “In case you forgot.”

Himchan’s lips thinned into a line. “I didn’t.”

“Why are you so hostile?” Junhong asked. He turned to Daehyun. “He always gets like this when we have transfers. He did it to me, too. I was only fourteen.”

“How old are you now?” Daehyun asked, blinking.

“Seventeen.”

“Oh. Nice. I’m twenty. If you were curious.”

“Himchan’s twenty-three.”

“What dragon camp were you from, Daehyun?” Himchan asked, cutting into the conversation.

“Uh, well… I’m not from a camp.”

“Then what are you?”

“Well, I was a farmer. Just herded animals for a while, maybe. It was pretty peaceful. Then some guy in funny robes showed up and started yelling about how I was destined for greatness, that I could tame even wild dragons.”

“You’re not telling me you took that as a challenge,” Himchan said. It wasn’t a question.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Good.”

“I told my friends and then _they_ challenged me to do it.”

“Oh, my god.” Himchan groaned. “You’re not here for the dragons, then?”

“No, I definitely am,” Daehyun said. “My mother always told me stories about the dragons and their history. I’ve wanted to be with them for a long time. I just never had a way to find them.”

“How did you get here?”

“Well, it turns out the guy in the robes was the Wizard of the Court in the city I lived nearby, so I went to the city, sold off what I could, bought some new clothes, and then talked to the Wizard.”

“He led you up here?”

“No. He pointed at the mountain and told me that if it was meant to be, I’d make it.”

“And if it wasn’t meant to be?”

“I actually don’t know. Maybe I’d have died, or maybe some dragon would pick me up and bring me to a different camp.”

Himchan snorted. “Have you ever even ridden a dragon before?”

“No, but I’m probably a natural.”

Himchan smiled at his cockiness. “All right, Mr. Natural.” He walked towards the door, beckoning for Daehyun to follow. “Come on.”

“What?” Daehyun hurried after him, slightly confused.

“Taking you for a dragon ride. It’s initiation.”

“Oh no.”

Junhong skipped alongside them out the door. “Do you want me to come up with you?”

“Yeah, just in case. He might fall off.”

“I’m not going to fall off,” Daehyun said adamantly.

“It’s not uncommon,” Junhong said. “I’ve been the catcher for the newbies ever since I flew a dragon on my own. That was only a month after I’d come here.”

“He’s a prodigy,” Himchan said. “Or he’s half-dragon. I still can’t tell.”

“Oh, please, Himchan, dragonborn people are a myth,” Junhong said.

“I don’t think they are,” Daehyun said quietly.

“Why?” Himchan asked.

“I’ve read all of the books of the history of dragons.”

“All of them?” Junhong asked. “There has to be at least a hundred of them.”

“Farming is pretty boring. Nothing ever happened, so I didn’t really have to pay much attention. I just sat up on the hill and read all the time.”

“What’s in the history?” Himchan asked.

“Well, the ancient legend is that a great dragon was the only thing to exist. The gods blessed the dragon and created a world for other life. The dragon created the valleys and rivers with their claws and the mountains with their wings. They created life with their breath and blood, but they ended up tiring out and withering into the ground. Shortly after their death, two species emerged: humans and dragons. Since they both came from the dragon in the earth, sometimes they mixed; that’s why the oldest, strongest dragons can speak fluently in human tongues, and why humans can speak in dragon tongues. We’ve come to understand each other over time from gestures and speech patterns, but the dragons and humans who share fluency are on a different level.”

“And you believe that?”

“I don’t know. But it’s really cool to think about. But there’s other stuff, too.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I read one history book in particular. History, not mythology. At the beginning of the book, they said that, throughout time, they could never really distinguish well between the actual history and the mythology since they were so closely intertwined. It showed three perspectives: mainly mythological, mainly historical, and then a blend of both. Some things in the history lined up with the mythology, and some things in the mythology couldn’t exist without the history. Like the story of the great queen Elynea.

Historically, it was known that she and her best troop traveled distance over land that should have taken a full year, even on horse, in only two months during a war. Mythologically, it was said she could speak to the dragons and tempted one dragon out of its den to fly her and the troop over there. People who don’t believe in dragonborn people say that there was purposeful faulty recordkeeping to make it look like an inspired move for her people during the war. Multiple shopkeepers recorded having seen her just before the move in private, though, journals that no one knew existed until they died. That just doesn’t add up alone historically.

The authors of the book always included at the end of each chapter what they thought was the most likely thing, and it was almost always a blend of both mythology and history. It seemed pretty believable to me.”

“Wow,” Himchan breathed out. “You are…”

“A bore,” Daehyun said.

“Amazing. What?” Himchan shook his head. “That was the coolest thing I’ve heard in a long time.”

“I knew some bits of that,” Junhong said. “Zerelth told me. He said his mother told him, and that her mother told her, and so on.”

“Don’t dragons live for thousands of years? How long ago was that?”

“Only about a thousand years ago,” Daehyun said. “Dragon age depends on the strength of their bloodline. The strongest live for thousands, but they’re really rare and don’t have kids often.”

“So, Zerelth’s bloodline is weak, then?” Himchan asked.

“Hey!” Junhong smacked Himchan’s arm lightly. “Don’t make fun of him! He’s my best friend.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t mention it again.”

“Oh my god,” Daehyun said. It sounded far away, so Himchan turned to look back to see if Daehyun had gotten lost.

Daehyun was crouched on the ground, a small, pink flower in his hand. One of the earth dragons had crawled out from under the tree to welcome him. It was one of the smaller ones, so it was only twice Daehyun’s size. Still, Daehyun looked terrified as it nuzzled its nose along Daehyun’s arm. Himchan bowed his head and chuckled quietly. “Galzra!” he called. The earth dragon quickly lifted its snout away from Daehyun to give a surprisingly sassy look. Himchan laughed and jogged back to where Daehyun was.

“Am I going to die on the first day?” Daehyun whispered weakly.

“No, you’re not. She may look scary, but she’s a sweetheart, really.” He patted Daehyun’s shoulder and then held out a hand, offering to pull Daehyun up. Daehyun took it shakily and stood up, almost falling into Himchan. “Oh, and don’t ruin the flowers.” Daehyun dropped the one he’d picked, and Himchan laughed. “They don’t mind if you take just one.” He bent down and grabbed it, then tucked it behind Daehyun’s ear. “Besides, you just got here. They want you to feel welcome. I’m pretty sure you could take everything here and they wouldn’t mind. It grows back easily, anyways.”

“Oh.” Daehyun leaned down and picked a flower just like his own and tucked it behind Himchan’s ear. He turned to go back to the path and realized he was still holding Himchan’s hand. “Oh,” he repeated. “Uh. Do you mind if I hold your hand?”

“You’re going to be holding onto me for dear life in a few minutes. You can hold my hand.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re shaking, by the way. Seriously, none of these dragons will hurt you. Don’t be scared of them.”

“What if they’re mean?”

“Oh, they can be mean. They’ll push you over or breathe - air only - on you to knock you down, but that’s it. They’re not going to actually hurt you.”

“That’s comforting,” Daehyun said, only half-joking. How could getting pushed over by a dragon not hurt? They were huge!

“A few quick questions before we get going. What dragons do you want to work with?”

“Uh…”

“Earth dragons can’t breathe anything, so if you’re that scared, you can be with them. Junhong is friends with all of the lightning dragons, so if you want to get close to him, then you can be with those dragons. They’re really energetic and playful, though, so if you don’t have the energy to run around all the time, I wouldn’t recommend it. The fire dragons are playful, too, and loud, but they’re not constantly jumping around, especially not the adults. They do like to hide things, though. They’re adorable when you ask them if they have it. They won’t make eye contact, and-”

“I’m guessing you work with the fire dragons, then?”

Himchan pressed his lips together. “I used to. I work with all of them now, but mainly the ice dragons.”

“I’ll work with the ice dragons, then.”

Himchan smiled. “There are some eggs that are going to hatch soon. You’re going to have to raise a baby dragon with me.”

“Okay.”

“Actually, maybe five baby dragons.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It’s actually quite relaxing. They don’t cry, but they do sneeze a lot.”

“Do the fire dragons sneeze out fire?”

“Yeah. We generally keep a bucket of water on hand when they hatch. The lightning dragons sneeze lightning, obviously, which sometimes sets things on fire. They’re not that difficult, though. They’re young and weak, so nothing ever gets destroyed. You might lose your eyebrows with the fire dragons, though.” He saw Daehyun’s hand fly to his eyebrows and laughed. “I’m kidding. That won’t happen unless your face is right in front of their nose.”

“What about the ice dragons?”

“They sneeze cold air, mainly. They might freeze your hair a bit, but it thaws. They’re a bit cooler naturally, though, so if you need a blanket, I have one.”

“A blanket cape,” Daehyun mumbled.

“Not for a cape.”

“Definitely for a cape.”

Himchan rolled his eyes.

“Is this a baby dragon?” Daehyun asked, pointing at a small, moving, white lump. He leaned down towards it. “This looks like a cat to me.”

“It is a cat. My cat. Her name is Watson.”

“Hey, Watson,” Daehyun cooed, stretching his hand out for the cat to sniff. The cat stood on its haunches and pawed at Daehyun’s legs. “Can I hold her?”

“Sure.”

Daehyun lifted up the cat and held it in front of him. He made quiet snarling noises and showed his teeth at Watson as though he was fighting her. Watson made a playful purring noise and batted at his nose. Daehyun chuckled and pulled the Watson into his shoulder, letting her rest there. She climbed out of his arms and stood on his shoulder, nuzzling her cheek against Daehyun’s.

“Come on, then,” Himchan said. He glanced around and noticed Junhong was running off towards the lightning dragons. Himchan swore he got Zerelth withdrawals or something. “We’re not far.”

Daehyun hummed in acknowledgement and walked on.

“Do you have any talents?”

“Hm?” Daehyun was distracted by Watson. “You know, you have a voice fit to call wars,” he said, looking at Himchan.

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yeah. It’s really deep and there’s something about it that says, ‘hey, shut up, I’m talking.’”

“Hey, shut up, I’m talking,” Himchan said. Daehyun hit his arm gently.

“I’m serious. You could be the voice of the people.”

“I’m no leader.”

“No, that’s an official position. The Voice of the People. It should be the voice of the ruler, but there’s political reasoning in that. Really, though, someone with a cool voice is appointed by the ruler as the Voice of the People to give speeches when the ruler of the city is sick or doesn’t want to talk. Or if they get cursed and they can’t speak. Or if they’re mute. One of the greatest queens in legend was mute. Great Queen Desnia. Her Voice of the People was a lady who she had an affair with.”

“That’s interesting.” Himchan nodded, signaling for Daehyun to continue.

“Yeah. According to the mythology, the reason Desnia was mute was because she was a dragonborn who had unjustly killed a dragon. She attacked it first, so when it died, it stole her voice. Really, though, her parents had talked to doctors for years, and apparently she never did talk, not even when she was young, so it’s more likely that she was actually mute. This is one of the times when the history is more likely.

Anyways, Desnia learned sign language, but almost no one could sign except for her family. She left her family and became a trader in a caravan for a while. None of them could speak her language well, so they didn’t. They spoke in coin, mainly. A while after, she returned after hearing of her father’s death. Her mother welcomed her back, but she was ill, too. Her mother died soon after, and she took the throne.

One of the people she’d met on the roads had been a woman, tall with dark skin and long, dark hair that she kept hidden under a hood. Her name was Sayma. She had been adventuring and looked to sell off some things she’d found. She sold off a lot of things that basically robbed Desnia of all of her coin, but then Sayma showed another thing. It was a pretty silver ring with a glimmering assortment of gems outlining a diamond. Desnia quickly took a liking to the ring, and, in her excitement, she signed out, ‘How much is that ring?’ before realizing she was signing. She kept her muteness secret, so that was a major mistake.

To her surprise, Sayma signed back. ‘Five hundred gold, mi’lady.’ Desnia was confused by the term ‘mi’lady’ and asked her why she was calling her that. Sayma said nothing, but instead lifted Desnia’s hand and kissed it. She then signed out, ‘A beautiful woman like you should be addressed with respect.’ She pressed the ring into Desnia’s hand and signed out, ‘It’s free if you remember me.’ Desnia promised to remember her, but still tried to pay her. Sayma refused.

Desnia asked her to wait and hid the things she’d traded for in her bag, then tucked it into her chest and locked it. She took Sayma’s hand and ran with her a bit away from the caravan and into the forest. There, she told Sayma that she had run away from her royal life, but if she ever returned, she promise Sayma a position of greatness. Sayma asked how Desnia would ever find her. Desnia pulled out the ring cast a spell on it. She pressed it back into Sayma’s hand and told her to keep it, and that if she needed to find her, she’d be able to because of that ring. They kissed, and then Desnia returned to the caravan.”

“How many history books have you read?” Himchan asked, cutting in. He was surprised Daehyun hadn’t tripped on the ground. His mind seemed completely put into the history, almost as if he was there recording the story, yet he was walking just fine.

“At least five hundred. After returning to the throne,” Daehyun continued, “she found Sayma again. She’d told the guards that the ring was hers that had been stolen, and that it was enchanted so the gemstones in it would change colors upon being touched. They found Sayma with a caravan again not far away and brought her in. They asked what she wanted to do with the fugitive, and Desnia said to let her handle it. Sayma was mad about being brought in so rudely, and Desnia apologized, but they quickly made up. Sayma gave the ring back to Desnia, and Desnia appointed her as the Voice of the People.”

“So how did everyone find out about the affair?”

“Well, for one thing, Desnia turned away every male suitor, and it got so ridiculous that she had to ask Sayma to make an announcement that any man who tried to take her hand in marriage would be fined. Sayma could speak, and she had a powerful voice. But she also tended to be a bit obvious and sometimes her mouth got ahead of her thoughts. Before she could stop herself, she said that Desnia was already taken. This, of course, led people to start snooping around. They were discovered to be lovers. Some people wanted to overthrow her since she wouldn’t create an alliance by marrying to a king or queen of another region. She calmed the riots with spells and the powerful voice of Sayma, and they lived on together. They adopted some kids and taught them strong, good morals, and, of course, sign language. That’s why the royal family in Avalia speaks sign language. It was an ancient tradition that they passed down.”

“Huh… That’s cool. I’ve been to Avalia.”

“Have you? Really?”

“Yeah. It’s not far from here.”

“It’s halfway across the country!”

“I mean on dragonback.”

“Oh. That sounds really cool. Aw, I wanna go.”

A loud snort distracted them. Vita rushed over to Himchan and wrapped him in his wings, then nuzzled against Himchan’s back. Himchan laughed. “This is Vita. He was freaked out earlier. I think it was because of you.”

“Oh. Sorry, Vita.” Daehyun was a bit scared. Vita was twice his size. His scales were an icy color. He looked like he was covered in a light layer of snow. His eyes almost glowed with a vibrant yellow color.

“Let him sniff you.”

“What? Himchan, he could freeze me.”

“He’s not going to sneeze on you. Or breathe ice on you.”

Daehyun hesitated.

“If you’re afraid of the dragons, you’re never going to be able to tame them. Come on.” He grabbed Daehyun’s wrist and pulled him between himself and Vita. Daehyun squirmed, trying to get away as Vita looked at him. Himchan sighed and wrapped his arms around Daehyun’s waist. Daehyun froze then, as though Vita had actually frozen him. He was still warm, though. Vita pressed his snout gently against Daehyun’s chest, then poked his leg with his tail. He sniffed Daehyun’s neck and then pulled away, giving a gentle nod at Himchan. Daehyun let out a huge breath.

“I’m alive.”

“Of course you are. Vita wouldn’t kill you. Vita wouldn’t even move the hair on your head.”

Vita purposely snorted, displacing Daehyun’s hair with the air. Daehyun ducked and squirmed uncomfortably. “Himchan, there’s dragon snot on my hair.”

“No, there’s not, Daehyun.” Himchan glared at Vita and spun Daehyun around, then quickly moved his hair back into place. “There. Back to normal.”

“Thank you,” Daehyun said softly. He flipped his hair to get his bangs out of his face.

“You never told me what’s so good about being the Voice of the People, by the way,” Himchan said. He turned to pet Vita.

“Oh. Sorry.” Daehyun sounded… Deflated. Himchan turned around and saw Daehyun scratching the back of his neck and looking at the floor. He knocked the floor off of his ear without realizing it. “I get kind of… Caught up in all of the history.”

“You seem embarrassed.”

“Well, I am.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be.” Himchan bent down and put the flower back behind Daehyun’s ear again. “It’s nice that you have something you love this much. You’re really smart, Daehyun. You know a lot.”

“Yeah, but, isn’t it kind of… I don’t know, lame?”

“Nope,” Himchan said. He didn’t hesitate, and his voice didn’t falter. “It’s actually really cool. If you’re staying with me, I’m going to have you tell me history stuff all the time.”

Daehyun’s eyes lit up. “I’m never going to shut up. I hope you know that.”

“Keep me up until sunrise, then. It’s interesting. If I fall asleep, it’s from sleep deprivation, not because it’s boring.”

Daehyun smiled brightly at Himchan, looking into his eyes.

He felt a nudge on his back and began to fall forward, throwing his arms out in front of his body to catch himself before he hit the floor. But there wasn’t a floor. There was Himchan. He fell into Himchan and caught himself on Himchan’s shoulders. He held on really tightly out of instinct, and then jumped away a second later. He ducked his head, hoping that Himchan wouldn’t see his red cheeks. Himchan, thankfully, was looking past him at the dragon.

“Vita,” Himchan said angrily, “Don’t bully Daehyun.” Vita snorted, moving Daehyun’s hair. Himchan actually seemed put off by Vita. Daehyun was surprised.

“It’s okay,” Daehyun said. “He was just messing around.” Daehyun turned around and bit his lip, then took a few slow steps toward Vita. “Right, Vita?” He reached out timidly to pet Vita’s neck. Vita surprised him by dropping his head so Daehyun could stroke in between his eyes. Daehyun did slowly.

Himchan gasped. “He likes you.”

“Himchan, if you told me that dragons were basically dogs, I wouldn’t have been so scared.” Vita was pushing his head up against Daehyun’s chest. “He’s so nice! Look, he’s so cute.”

“He didn’t let me pet him my first day.”

Daehyun turned to face Himchan. “I guess… If you’re taking me on a dragon ride, Vita would be good for that.”

Vita practically jumped at that. He moved to stick his neck in between Himchan and Daehyun, basically telling them to get on. Himchan shook his head with a smile, then looked up at Daehyun.

“You sure you’re ready to go?”

“No, but you said it’s initiation.”

“I don’t have to take you until you feel comfortable going.” Vita poked his nose into Himchan’s stomach, then sent him a look that seemed to say, “If you don’t do this, I’ll never forgive you.” Himchan wasn’t sure why Vita was acting like this. “Vita seems to really want to go.”

“Can I hold onto you while we fly?” Daehyun seemed shy about it, and his cheeks were lightly pink.

Himchan smiled. “Of course you can. Junhong did, too.”

“Junhong was fourteen.”

“Yeah, but you’re cute.” Vita made a happy purring noise at the blush that tinted Daehyun’s cheeks pink. Himchan rolled his eyes. “And if you didn’t, you’d probably die.”

“You mean, fall off?”

“No, I mean you’d probably end up in tears and wouldn’t stop screaming. You’d die emotionally.”

“That’s… That’s probably true.”

“I’ll make sure Vita doesn’t go too fast.”

“Isn’t Vita in control?”

“Yeah, but if he doesn’t listen to me I’m going to put you in the earth dragon den for a week so he can’t see you.”

Vita shook his neck, a sign that he was upset. “See? It’ll work.” Himchan climbed onto Vita’s neck, then held his hand out to Daehyun. “Come on.”

Daehyun took his hand and Himchan pulled him up. As soon as he sat down, he looped his arms around Himchan’s waist. He pressed his face against Himchan’s back, his eyes already squeezed shut. “Please don’t let me die.”

“I’m not going to let you die,” Himchan said softly. He squeezed one of Daehyun’s hands reassuringly, then turned his head away from Daehyun. “Junhong! We’re going to go!”

“All right!” Junhong shouted back from behind them. He was already on Zerelth and up in the sky. “You two are slow.”

“Daehyun was telling me more history stuff!”

“Aw, I missed it?” Junhong pouted. “What did I miss?”

“Great Queen Desnia,” Himchan said. “A mute lesbian queen.”

“Aw, that sounds so cool! Daehyun, you’ll have to tell me about her sometime!”

Himchan could feel Daehyun smile into his back.

“All right, Vita, nice and easy,” Himchan said, patting Vita’s neck. Daehyun grabbed Himchan tighter, burrowing his fists into the hem of Himchan’s shirt as the dragon lurched up into the sky.

“I’m going to die,” Daehyun mumbled.

“Not while I’m here.” Himchan reached an arm behind himself and pulled Daehyun closer by the hip so he was snuggled right up to him. “You’re going to be fine. Just hold onto me.”

“Okay.” Himchan moved his heels against Vita’s neck so he knew to go up higher. Then, he moved so they’d go out towards the towns nearby. The wind was a bit cold, but Himchan was used to it. He could tell Daehyun wasn’t, though. He decided to change course. “Junhong, take us to your friend’s camp!”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Junhong kicked his heels out and leaned forward, tucking his legs back behind him. Zerelth dipped his head for a second before flying off in the opposite direction at lightning speed. Junhong whooped with delight. Himchan followed behind him, much, much more slowly.

“You holding up okay, Daehyun?” Himchan patted Daehyun’s knee, which was by the side of his thigh.

“Yeah,” Daehyun said shakily.

“I promise you, you’re going to be fine.”

The world passed by in the chill of the wind and the slow stream of movement in the clouds overhead. Himchan felt Daehyun’s nose get a little less defined until he finally pulled his head up and opened his eyes.

“Oh my god,” Daehyun mumbled. “Look at that.” He was mesmerized by the sky, by the smooth, powerful movement of Vita’s wings, by the way he was just above the world and up in the sky. He felt strong, though he was still very, very scared.

Vita hummed and Daehyun could feel it in his neck. He dipped his head back in between Himchan’s shoulders instinctively, letting go of Himchan’s shirt but still keeping his arms locked around his waist.

Himchan knew he didn’t have to think any more. He knew Vita knew where to go, so he let his mind wander.

It wandered to the mythology of the land. That story about the dragon who worked itself to death into the ground to give life to others. He wondered if it could be true. If dragonborn people could exist. He’d heard legends about the oldest dragons and their interactions with humans. He’d have to ask Daehyun if Elynea had spoken to an old dragon to temp it to fly her across the land.

He’d have to ask Daehyun a lot of things about history. It all seemed very cool.

He’d also have to ask Daehyun a lot of things about himself. He seemed adorable. Himchan knew, since Vita liked him, he was a great person.

He also had to ask Daehyun if he was alive.

“You doing okay?” Himchan asked. His voice was barely audible over the beat of Vita’s wings, so he repeated the question more loudly.

“Yeah.” Daehyun seemed a bit less scared. He moved his head, nuzzling his nose against the nape of Himchan’s neck on accident. Himchan smiled lightly.

“Good. We’re almost there, okay?”

“Where are we going?”

“Junhong has a friend at a nearby camp that he always visits. It’ll be a nice place for you to relax and get used to all of this.”

Daehyun breathed out something that Himchan could only assume was a noise of assent since he nodded his head immediately after. His nose rubbed against Himchan’s back. He smiled again. He did have a big nose.

It was cute on him.

A few minutes passed, and Daehyun made tiny movements against Himchan’s body, generally just adjusting his head or scooting closer, but he didn’t look up again. He seemed less scared now. Himchan was glad for that.

“Hey, we’re landing,” Himchan said.

“Okay.”

“We’re not that high up now, so if you want to look, you can. Hold on tightly, though, okay?”

“Okay.” Daehyun tightened his legs on Vita’s neck and his arms around Himchan’s waist. He lifted his head.

A moment later, Vita landed with a fwump as he kicked up dirt. His wings fanned the dirt away and he dipped his head to the group. Daehyun assumed that was the signal to get off. He let go of Himchan and climbed off shakily. Himchan hopped off next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

“You did it,” he said, his voice warm.

“Don’t we have to go back?” Daehyun rubbed his tan, bare arms. He should have worn a jacket.

“Yeah.” Himchan unzipped his jacket and draped it around Daehyun’s shoulders. It was warm and fuzzy, and Daehyun put it on almost immediately, then caught himself.

“Won’t you get cold?”

“I’m used to it. I hang around Vita all the time.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“You’re still going to huddle with me for warmth, though, right?” Himchan teased.

“Of course I am,” Daehyun said, his cheeks a faint pink.

“I don’t mind at all.”

Daehyun looked around at the camp. It was a bit warmer, and he could see a tiny lava pit by a bunch of dragons he assumed to be fire dragons. It was surrounded with rocks as a warning to watch your step. There wasn’t a clear, defined path, mainly due to it being very stony. The earth dragons had vines covering the rocks. There were hot springs over by the water dragons.

“Himchan, how many different kinds of dragons are there?”

“A lot. I think you’d know that more than I do.”

Daehyun shook his head. “I meant here.”

“Oh. They have ice, fire, water, earth, and dark dragons here.”

“What do we have?”

Himchan smiled. _We._ He was going to stay, then. “Ice, fire, water, earth, lightning, and light.”

“Where are the light and water ones?” His voice was noticeably lighter and more bubbly.

“I can show you them on the way back.”

“What do dark dragons breathe?”

“Dark stuff. We don’t actually know what it is.”

“Water dragons?”

“I think you could guess that. It’s a good way to get a shower, though, if they’re gentle.”

“And light dragons?” Daehyun was practically jumping around with excitement.

“Really, really, really bright light. Don’t ever look at it directly. It could blind you.”

“Oh.” Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t want to go blind. Then I couldn’t look at all of the cute dragons.”

“Or me,” Himchan said. “I’m not a dragon, but I’m cute.” He put his hands under his chin and wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

Daehyun laughed, his cheeks turning faintly pink. He looked down slightly with a small smile. “That’s true.”

Himchan blushed, too. He wasn’t expecting Daehyun to agree with him. “You’re cute, too, you know,” he blurted out.

Daehyun’s smile covered his whole face. His cheeks began to burn. “Thank you,” he whispered. He looked up. “So, what are we doing here?”

“I actually just wanted to stop so you could put on my jacket,” Himchan said. “I noticed you were having a hard time with the cold.”

“Oh.” Daehyun looked at the ground again. “ _Oh_. Aw, Himchan, that’s so nice of you. Thank you, really.”

“No problem, Daehyun.” Himchan patted his back gently. “So, you think you’re going to stay at the camp?”

“Of course.” Daehyun looked around. “Where’s Junhong?”

“Probably with his friend. We can leave if you want to. He’ll come back eventually.”

“Can we look around a little bit first?”

“Sure.”

“Hey, Himchan!” someone called. Himchan looked around and saw a shorter boy running towards him, waving his hand.

“Hey, Youngjae!”

Youngjae was standing in front of them a moment later. His hair was black and a bit messy, and he pulled his fingers through it to get it out of his face. “Hey.” Youngjae turned to face Daehyun, extending a hand out and smiling. “Hi. I haven’t met you before. I’m Youngjae.”

Daehyun stumbled to find the words for a second, then responded, “I’m Daehyun.” He shook his hand, working up a smile to return. “I’m new at Himchan’s camp.”

“Like, completely new to dragon taming?”

“Yeah.”

“He just came in today,” Himchan said.

“Oh, wow.” Youngjae smiled. “Well, welcome to the life! Don’t worry. Himchan’s a great tamer, and he’ll teach you to be one too.” Youngjae giggled a moment later when Vita nuzzled his stomach. “Hey, Vita! Nice to see you!” Youngjae rubbed Vita’s neck slowly.

“A wizard told Daehyun he’d be good at taming dragons.”

Daehyun looked at the ground, his cheeks burning.

“I don’t doubt that,” Youngjae said. Daehyun’s eyes snapped up to look at him. He was serious. “He seems nice. I bet the dragons like him already.”

“Vita likes him.”

“Already?” Youngjae’s eyes widened. “Jeez, the kid must have some charm.”

“He’s the same age as you are,” Himchan said. “But, yeah. Vita really likes him already.”

“Maybe he’s dragonborn,” Youngjae said, only partially teasing.

“He could be. He knows a lot about dragons for someone who’s never been around them before today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure he knows all of the history of this land and every dragon to live.”

“That sounds really cool.” Youngjae turned to face Daehyun. “Do you believe in dragonborn people?”

Daehyun hesitated. He glanced at Youngjae, then Himchan, then returned his gaze to the ground. “Yes,” he said quietly.

“Well, good, because you are one.”

Daehyun looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed. “How do you know?”

“There’s no way Vita could like you on day _one_ without you being dragonborn. It’s just not possible. I raised this dragon. I’d know.”

“I raised him with you,” Himchan said.

“Yeah, so you know I’m right. Oh, speaking of raising dragons, some earth dragons just hatched a few days ago. Do you want to see them, Daehyun?”

It made Daehyun happy how warm Youngjae was being to him. “Yeah, sure. According to Himchan, we’re going to have some ice dragon hatchlings soon.”

“Oh?” Youngjae laughed. “Well, well, well, Himchan, moving on past me? Raising dragons with other people now?”

Himchan rolled his eyes. “You’re the one that transferred.”

“It’s nice here,” Youngjae said quietly. “I like it a lot.”

“You miss our camp, though, don’t you?”

“Yeah, sometimes. Fortunately, you’re only a dragon flight away.” Youngjae turned to Daehyun again. “If Himchan’s ever being mean, you can just fly over here, okay? I’m sure the earth dragons will comfort you.”

“I don’t think he’ll be mean to me,” Daehyun said.

Youngjae laughed. “You’re right. Still, if you ever want to come over here, you can, okay? We have an open-flying rule between our camps.”

Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows, obviously confused. “Do not all of the camps have open-flying?”

“Nope,” Youngjae said sadly. “Some of the camps ban visits and transfers from certain camps.”

“Why?”

“Some dispute about mythology. One of the camps doesn’t believe in dragonborn people at all. Another one claims to have only dragonborn workers. They don’t like each other.”

“Maybe you should lend them that book, Daehyun,” Himchan suggested. “The one you were talking about earlier.”

“Maybe,” Daehyun said. He seemed upset. “I don’t get why people have to fight over that stuff. Can’t we all just love each other?”

Youngjae smiled. “Himchan, your camp always has the best workers. I’d know, since I was from there.”

“Why did you switch?” Daehyun interrupted. “Like, why did you come here?”

Youngjae looked sad. “One of the oldest dragons here was dying. Some of the staff were too old, too. They couldn’t take care of the dragons well any more. They needed new workers.”

“What happened to the dragon?”

“Well, she just had a bunch of baby hatchlings.”

“How old is she?” Daehyun’s eyes sparkled.

“Apparently, she’s two-thousand years old.”

“Oh my god.” Daehyun smiled. “Oh my god, Himchan, what if she knows the story of Queen Elynea? What if she is the dragon that flew her across the land in the war?”

Himchan smiled. “That’d be cool.”

“Can we meet her?” Daehyun asked. “Would that be okay?”

“Hm…” Youngjae bit his finger while thinking. Himchan grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his mouth.

“Bad habit,” he said.

Youngjae shook his head with a smile. “I think you’d be able to meet her.”

“What’s her name?”

“Venia. We call her Ven sometimes.”

“Ven!” Daehyun smiled brightly. “I like that name a lot.”

Youngjae smiled at him. “After me.” He turned and motioned for Daehyun and Himchan to follow him.

Daehyun and Himchan walked together after Youngjae. Daehyun’s smile was stretched across his face, and Himchan couldn’t help but smile, too. The earth dragon den wasn’t far from where they landed. Daehyun hesitated at the mouth of the den as Youngjae lit a torch.

“Can I hold your hand?” Daehyun asked Himchan quietly. “It’s dark. If I get lost, I’ll die.”

“To be fair, one of the dragons would drag you out before you die, but Vita would probably kill me if I let you get lost.” He held out his hand and Daehyun grasped it tightly.

“I thought you said Vita wouldn’t kill anyone.”

“It’s just a joke,” Himchan said. “I think.”

“All right, stay close to me,” Youngjae said. He guided them down through a series of tunnels. In some of the walls of the caves were veins of ores; shiny, twinkling silver and dull iron were the most common, but there were a few gold veins and some others Daehyun didn’t know along the way. There were some gems piled up at places on the ground, too.

“Why don’t you sell those gems?” Daehyun asked, curious.

“Why would we?” Youngjae shrugged. “We don’t need much money. We only sell enough to buy food and clothes. We have the dragons; they’re the best luxury anyone could have.”

Daehyun smiled at that. A moment later, the already-large cave broke into a huge grotto. There was a lake and an island with a gigantic tree in the middle of it. The tree broke through a hole in the ceiling and filtered sunlight through its leaves. Underneath the tree sat a huge dragon. “Is that Venia?”

“Yeah. Venia!” Youngjae called, setting the torch out in the water. “Visitors.”

Venia raised her head from her slumber and looked lazily at Daehyun and Himchan. She extended her tail across the lake, water splashing out. Daehyun flinched back, covering his face with his arms, as it showered him.

“Come on, Daehyun,” Himchan said. “I’ll take you over there.”

“What about Youngjae?”

“She already trusts me,” Youngjae said. “This is a test for you, not me.”

“Shouldn’t I go over there alone, then?”

“If you’re okay with doing that, then you should.”

Daehyun gulped, then looked at Himchan. “I can do it.”

“You sure?” Himchan asked. His eyebrows knitted with concern. “You’ve pushed yourself a lot today.”

Daehyun hesitated. That was long enough for Himchan to decide. He held his hand out to Daehyun. “Come on.”

Daehyun looked relieved. He followed Himchan, stepping carefully onto Venia’s tail. “Thank you,” he whispered when they were halfway across the lake.

“You know you’re not going to disappoint me, right?”

“What?”

“You seem to keep trying to impress me. You don’t have to worry about that at all. It’s your first day, Daehyun.”

Daehyun stopped, then leaned his head against Himchan’s shoulder. He let out a deep sigh, like a breath he’d been holding for too long. “Thank you,” he repeated. He kept walking.

They stepped onto the island together, Himchan guiding Daehyun off of Venia’s tail gently. “I’ll be right by your side, okay?”

Daehyun looked like he was on the verge of tears as he smiled again. Himchan pulled him along to meet Venia.

Venia dipped her head down gracefully to look at Daehyun up close. Daehyun thought he might actually die. Venia was at least six times as tall as he was. At least. She was huge. She was a rusty brown color. Her scales were huge individually; one of them was twice the size of Daehyun’s hand. Her eyes were a bright violet color, and her pupils rapidly contracted and expanded as she looked at him. She sniffed his hair gently. He held out his hand and she pressed her nose against it for a few moments. Even the tip of her nose was huge. A moment later, she pulled away, opening her mouth to bear her teeth. Daehyun thought he should be worried, but he was relieved. She seemed to do it more as a welcoming gesture than as a threat.

“Well, she likes you, too,” Himchan mumbled. “I’m seriously thinking you’re dragonborn, Daehyun.”

Daehyun opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He lowered himself to his knees and bowed to Venia. Venia purred happily. He stood up a moment later.

“Queen Venia,” he started out, “can you understand human tongue?”

Venia nodded at him.

“Do you know the story of Queen Elynea, who rode a dragon across the land to win a war for her country?”

Venia nodded again. She beat her wings once gently.

“You were the dragon that she flew?”

Again, she nodded.

Daehyun turned to Himchan with a huge smile on his face. He was like a happy puppy. “It’s real, Himchan.”

“Why didn’t someone ask before, then?”

Venia rumbled in her throat uncomfortably. She looked at Daehyun with a gaze that could kill. Daehyun understood.

“She doesn’t want me to tell anyone.” Daehyun looked at the ground. “Himchan, those books… It’s illegal to own them, technically. For me, at least. They’re only for royalty, and, as of late, royalty hasn’t had much contact with dragons.” He looked up at Venia. “I’ll keep this secret.”

Venia shook her head. She opened her jaws. Her voice filled the room with a rich sound that reminded Daehyun of the stars. “Only dragon tamers may know.”

Daehyun nodded. He got on his knees and bowed again. “Thank you, Queen Venia.” He stood up then. “May we see your babies?”

Venia hesitated, then nodded. She moved her tail to reveal a bunch of tiny dragons on an island near her own. It was far enough that they could wade over there without trouble. Still, Venia extended her tail to allow them to cross. They did, Daehyun leading the way this time. He jumped off of her tail excitedly, then waited for Himchan. Himchan nodded at him and they approached the baby dragons slowly.

One of them timidly walked up to Daehyun and sniffed his leg. It was about eight inches tall. Daehyun waited, then leaned down to face the dragon. It shoved its snout against his nose, then made a playful noise at him.

“Himchan, I’ve come to the conclusion that dragons are dogs, and you can’t change my mind.” He held out his hand for the dragon to sniff. It jumped excitedly into his lap and sniffed his neck, then nuzzled into his arms. “Oh my god, Himchan, it’s so cute, I might die.”

Himchan laughed, then picked up one himself. “We’ll be raising our own soon.”

“We,” Daehyun mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He rocked the dragon back and forth in his arms slowly, softly humming to it.

A voice rang out again. “You may name her,” Venia said.

Daehyun looked at Himchan excitedly. Himchan stared at him with wide eyes.

“You’re dragonborn!” someone shouted. Daehyun turned to look at Youngjae. He looked like a small, gray dot from across the lake. “No way she’d let you name her child if you weren’t! Just saying!”

Himchan nodded. “He’s right.”

Daehyun smiled, then giggled. “Oh my gosh, what will I name you?” He looked at the dragon, and she snarled playfully at him.

“It doesn’t have to be one of those really regal names,” Himchan said. “It could just be something short and sweet.”

“This is a really big deal, Himchan. Don’t kill my vibe.”

Himchan rolled his eyes.

“Wish.” He looked at Himchan. “Wish,” he repeated.

“Why Wish?”

“Because this… This is a dream come true.” Wish snuggled into his arms, making a squeaky noise as she yawned.

“It’s short and cute and sweet.” Himchan looked at the way Daehyun was holding Wish. It was so gentle and soft. He could tell Daehyun cared. “Like you,” he added.

“What?”

“I said I like it.”

“I’m glad.” He rocked Wish back and forth and hummed to her softly, then set her down. “Should we go now?”

“Probably.” Himchan set his dragon down. He watched as Daehyun kissed the crown of Wish’s head, then set her down. He guided him along Venia’s tail. They stopped off to let her move it, then met Youngjae at the other side.

“What’d you name her?” Youngjae asked excitedly.

“Wish,” Daehyun said, smiling.

Youngjae smiled back at him and said nothing. He lit the torch again, and Daehyun noticed it this time.

“You can cast spells?” he asked.

“Only basic ones,” Youngjae said. “I taught myself. I only really use it for this torch, and for putting out fires with ice.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“Yeah.”

They walked in silence back out of the cave. The noise of their footsteps echoed throughout the stony walls. Daehyun noticed some of the dragons curled around the gem piles and smiled.

Dragons were precious, giant, scaly dogs.

“It was nice to see you again, Himchan,” Youngjae said when they reached the mouth of the cave. “You two heading off now?”

“Yeah,” Himchan said. “Junhong’s somewhere around here, though. Tell him to come back whenever.”

“Okay.” Youngjae smiled at the ground. “Oh, Daehyun!”

“Hm?” Daehyun asked.

“I’ll take good care of Wish for you.”

Daehyun smiled. “Thank you.”

The sun was setting as they walked back to Vita. Vita was flapping his wings excitedly and making a ruckus. He almost tackled Himchan on sight. He pulled the two of them into a hug between his wings, then let them go and lowered his neck.

“He really likes hugs, doesn’t he?” Daehyun asked. He watched as Himchan climbed on, then took Himchan’s hand and followed him up. He wrapped himself around Himchan again, the same way as before.

“Yeah, he does. You seem to like hugs, too,” Himchan teased as he pulled Daehyun flush against himself.

“I do.” He gripped Himchan’s shirt as Vita took off. He looked up just after they were in the sky, much more confident now.

The sun threw rosy reds and deep oranges across the sky. Daehyun gasped as he took in the world around him, the colors mixing together like paint on a wet canvas. The clouds were soft and fluffy above him. He leaned the side of his head against Himchan’s shoulder blade so he could look out at the world while being comforted by his presence. He let out a quiet, content sigh.

“The world is so beautiful,” Daehyun said quietly. “I’d never have known any of this if I hadn’t come here. Being a lonely farmer really sucked.” He laughed.

Himchan decided to listen to him silently. He held one of Daehyun’s hands in his own. Daehyun, however, was done talking. The two of them watched the sky together as Vita flew them back to the camp, the strong beat of his wings echoing that of their own hearts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dragon babies with gender-neutral pronouns hell yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Daehyun ran his fingers through his hair, the damp beads of water clinging to his hand. He grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head quickly, then turned around to see a small, dark blue dragon watching him.

“Hey, I told you not to watch me bathe!” Daehyun shouted teasingly. The dragon tilted his head at him and bounded towards him, his tail bouncing up and down behind him. Daehyun bent down to catch him and lifted him up. He nuzzled his nose into Daehyun’s neck, then moved until he was sitting on Daehyun’s right shoulder, his tail swishing behind him and touching Daehyun’s shoulder blade softly.

“You know, Calypso, I think you might be more of a cat.” Calypso opened his mouth to spray a tiny stream of water at Daehyun’s cheek, then jumped off of his shoulder, scampering off. “Hey!” Daehyun shook his head and chased Calypso, catching up to him quickly. Calypso was only about eight inches tall and was pretty fast, but he was still really young and exhausted himself easily. Daehyun picked him up and gave him a hug, letting him sit on his shoulder again. “Don’t watch me bathe.”

Calypso ducked his head and made a soft whining noise. Daehyun wasn’t actually upset, and Calypso must have known, because he hopped up and down a moment later and stuck his head forward, signaling Daehyun to start walking. Daehyun shook his head again. “I can’t believe I’m taking orders from a baby,” he mumbled, walking towards the cave entrance. Calypso nipped at his earlobe, but he had no teeth yet, so it didn’t hurt him at all. “You’re a week old, you don’t get to complain. Do you know how long I’ve been alive? At least a thousand times longer than you. I’m twenty years old. You’re tiny.”

Calypso made a quiet rumbling noise, as though he was confused. Daehyun remembered then that he couldn’t understand much human tongue. After all, he was only a week old.

“I love you, Lypso,” Daehyun said. Calypso purred and nuzzled his face against Daehyun’s cheek. That was something that Calypso did understand, and Daehyun was glad for that.

Daehyun stepped out into the mouth of the cave. His ears were filled with a cacophony of noises made by the waterfall around him. The waterfall created a curtain in front of the cave, but it didn’t cover all of it. Daehyun peered out through the area not covered by raging water and looked at the sky. It was a nice, light blue, and there were a few clouds in the sky. The dragons swirled around, flying in circles or playing with each other in the sky, occasionally spitting fire, ice, lightning, or whatever they pleased. To someone on the outside, it might look terrifying, but to Daehyun, it was calming, almost cathartic. He could feel their happiness resonating in their wingbeats and the energy bursting from their elements. He could feel them in his heart.

“Look at them, Lypso,” Daehyun said, nodding at them. He looked over to his shoulder, but Calypso wasn’t there. He was standing on the very edge of the cave floor, slowly and curiously pushing his snout towards the waterfall. His wings were extended away from his body, and his pupils reflected the rushing water. Daehyun made a grumbling noise with his throat and Calypso brought his nose back quickly, stepping back from the edge and looking at Daehyun. He dipped his head almost sheepishly, as though he was embarrassed. Daehyun chuckled and walked over, then carried him back to where he had been standing before. “Look.” Calypso wriggled out of his arms and sat on his shoulder, then looked into the sky. Daehyun had to grab him again because he almost jumped off of his shoulder and hurt himself in his excitement. “You’re going to be flying like them one day. Aren’t you excited?”

Calypso purred loudly in response, then looked longingly at the waterfall. Daehyun held him out towards it. Calypso slowly dipped his nose under the water, then pulled back sharply, snorting. He sniffled sadly, then snorted again, shaking his head. He seemed to have gotten water in his nose. Daehyun chuckled and tapped his snout. “Silly.” Calypso made a noise like a whine mixed with a growl. Daehyun shook his head. “Come on.” Daehyun put Calypso back on his shoulder and he almost pouted when Daehyun left the edge of the waterfall. He passed by the pond in the cave with another, smaller waterfall running into it, though that waterfall wasn’t natural. Water dragons, like all other dragons, sometimes needed to breathe their element. It was a sort of stress reliever. They weren’t generally stressed, but, what with the new water dragons running around, the waterfall was somewhat steady. The pond overflowed frequently, but that was just fine with everyone.

He walked back up the slope, his bare feet padding against the stone of the cave. He’d left his shoes near the cave entrance because he didn’t want them to get wet. Calypso walked behind him, rushing to keep up a bit because he got distracted by everything he passed. When Daehyun was almost at the entrance, he bit at Daehyun’s pants. Daehyun turned to face him and saw him pouting. Calypso made a soft noise of sadness.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, buddy,” Daehyun said. He kneeled down to pet Calypso, then held out his hand. Calypso put his little foot into Daehyun’s hand and Daehyun squeezed it gently for a moment, then stood up and put on his shoes. Calypso wormed his way in between Daehyun’s legs to sit in front of him, staring at him with big, sad eyes. Daehyun kissed his snout and stood up, walking out of the cave. Calypso followed and then went to go join his mother, walking slowly and swishing his tail sadly. Daehyun sighed and jogged down the path to the ice dragon den quickly.

“You’re late,” Himchan said when Daehyun got close to him. He was trying to calm Vita down, but it wasn’t working well.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” Daehyun walked towards Vita slowly, hand out. Vita snorted and pushed his hand away with his nose, then turned away from both of them, stretching his wings out. He walked away a bit, but didn’t lift off the ground.

Himchan turned to face Daehyun. “Vita’s stressed out because the ice dragons are going to hatch today.”

“Today?” Daehyun asked. He’d spent some time with Calypso when he’d bathed because the little rascal wouldn’t leave him alone, but he hadn’t been there when he hatched. They hadn’t actually been together that much, but Calypso got attached to humans easily.

So did Daehyun. He got attached to dragons easily, too.

“Yeah, today. You want me to give you a rundown of what we’re going to do?”

“We can just do it as it comes.”

“You could invite that little water dragon that follows you around to help, you know. We have to clean them off gently when they hatch, since they’re all slimy and gross, but baths are dangerous because they can’t breathe well and they can’t swim.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but get him later, not now.”

“No, they’re all slimy and gross?”

“Yeah, Daehyun. Everything that hatches from an egg is all slimy and gross.”

“I don’t think dragons are ever slimy and gross.”

“You really haven’t been around enough dragons.”

Daehyun supposed he was right. It had been two months since he’d arrived at the camp, and he had only tended the older dragons.

“You’re not going to get much sleep tonight,” Himchan said. “They’ll be hatching later, I think, and they’re kind of obnoxious when they first hatch. It’s best if you get some sleep now and help me later.”

“Why don’t you get some sleep, too?”

Himchan scratched the back of his neck, then shrugged. He said nothing after that.

Daehyun rolled his eyes. “Himchan, sorry to break it to you, but you need sleep just as much as I do. Maybe more.”

“More?” Himchan raised an eyebrow.

“You generally come into the boarding room late at night, and then you get up early, too. You sleep in the stables more than in your own bed.”

“Dragons need constant care and affection.” Himchan turned away to face Vita, beckoning him forward.

“I need constant care and affection!” Daehyun said.

Himchan turned back to face Daehyun, his eyebrow raised again. “I don’t see the point you’re trying to make.”

“That wasn’t a point. It’s just a fact about me. I get lonely easily.”

Himchan rolled his eyes, then turned away again. Vita had now scurried closer to Daehyun than Himchan. Daehyun sighed, then turned away, walking back towards the house.

Himchan hadn’t noticed he’d left until he got back. In fact, he wouldn’t have even noticed he got back if he hadn’t thrown a blanket on him, followed by multiple pillows hitting the back of his head. “You’re getting some sleep. If you don’t, I’ll recite boring history to you.”

“Vita’s stressed out,” Himchan said, his voice muffled by the blanket. He pulled it off of his head, then glared at Daehyun. “I have to calm him down.”

“I think he’ll calm down by himself eventually. Come on, Himchan, please,” Daehyun whined. He was carrying his own mountain of blankets and pillows in his arms.

Himchan had to admit, Daehyun had better puppy eyes than some of the baby dragons he’d raised. “All right, but we’re staying near Vita.”

“Of course,” Daehyun said happily. He was just glad Himchan would finally sleep. He reached for Himchan’s wrist and pulled him towards the actual den of the ice dragons. Himchan followed with a faint smile and walked into the cave. Their footsteps echoed against the stone walls, and they could hear other dragons making noise, but the two of them didn’t share any words. Vita followed them slowly, looking at them keenly. They went into the little cove where Vita usually slept and sat down. Daehyun beckoned Vita over. Vita happily curled his tail around them as he got ready to nap, too.

Daehyun snuggled right up against Himchan, then looked at him with big, wide eyes. “I need constant care an affection.”

Himchan laughed and shook his head, then wrapped his arm around Daehyun as he rested his head back against Vita. Daehyun smiled and rested his head against Himchan’s shoulder, pushing the pillows he’d grabbed aside and tucking himself in with his blanket.

* * *

“Daehyun,” Himchan said. “Daehyun, wake up.”

Daehyun groaned quietly and sniffled sleepily, then opened his eyes. “What time is it?” he mumbled.

“It’s dark. The stars are out. The dragons are going to hatch in a few hours, I think.”

“Why are you waking me up now, then?” Daehyun tugged the blanket back over his face. Himchan pulled it down and held it so he couldn’t hide behind it again, smiling when Daehyun whined and pouted at him.

“You act like an actual baby. It’s adorable.” Himchan chuckled when Daehyun groaned and tried to wriggle away. “Let’s go look at the stars.”

“The stars?”

“Yeah. I’m sure there’s some dragon history related to the stars that you can tell me, right?”

Daehyun smiled sheepishly, opening his eyes. “Yeah, there is.”

“All right. Well, get up, because I want to hear it.” Himchan shifted to make sure Daehyun realized he was still laying on his shoulder.

Daehyun slowly stood up, rubbing his eyes. “Did you dream about anything?”

Himchan’s cheeks turned a bit pink, but he hoped Daehyun couldn’t see in the dark. “No. You?”

“No.” Daehyun held his hand out.

“Darn.” Himchan took Daehyun’s hand, surprised when he pulled him up easily. “You’re stronger than I expected.”

“Also nerdier, cuter, more lovable, and more popular among dragons than you expected. Your first impression of me was really off, Himchan. You have to admit that.”

“You’re right.” He put his arm around Daehyun’s shoulders, smiling. “I like you a lot more now that I know you.” The two of them started walking out of the den together.

“Good. You hated me at first.”

“I didn’t hate you.”

“You were unnecessarily hostile, then.”

“I’m possessive of the dragons sometimes. I don’t want people coming in here and hurting them.”

Daehyun stopped. “Himchan, look at me. Do I look like I could even hurt a person, let alone a dragon?”

“No, but you are stronger than I expected you to be, so I guess looks can be deceiving.”

Daehyun laughed loudly, then shook his head and kept walking. “I guess you have a fair point. How strong are you, though?”

“Me?” Himchan chuckled. “Ah, I’m not that strong.”

“Really?” Daehyun raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen you carrying teenaged dragons, Himchan. You must be strong.”

Himchan stopped, taking his arm away from Daehyun. “Well, if you insist, then let’s test it.” In a moment he squatted down to pick Daehyun up by the waist, throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him. He could hear Daehyun’s outrageous, perky laughter.

“Himchan, stop! This isn’t how you’re supposed to carry people!” His speech was broken up with laughter.

“Well, it works, at least.” He set Daehyun down for a second. “Do you want me to carry you like you’re my one true love instead?”

“I need constant love and affection,” Daehyun sang. He squealed a little bit when his feet were lifted off the ground again and he looped his arms around Himchan’s neck. “I didn’t think you were actually going to do it.” He laughed brightly again.

“Well, I guess we’ve both been surprised tonight.” He looked down at Daehyun’s smiling face, then back at the earth around him as he carried him out of the den. A torch hanging on the cave wall illuminated Daehyun’s face. “You know, you’re awfully cute in the moonlight.”

“Well, you’re awfully cute all the time,” Daehyun responded more quietly. His cheeks were bright pink as Himchan set him down. Unfortunately, Himchan could tell.

“Blushing,” Himchan said. He touched Daehyun’s nose. “Cute. Come on.” He held his hand out for Daehyun to take, smiling when their fingers laced together. “Over by the water den. We’re going up the mountain. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah.” Daehyun chuckled. “Wouldn’t it be faster just to take Vita?”

“Yeah, but-”

A little rumbling noise cut him off and the two of them turned around. They saw Vita standing in the mouth of the cave.

“Sorry, boy, did we wake you?” Daehyun asked, walking back to pet his neck. Vita purred under his touch. “Hey, Himchan, why don’t we have him fly us to another mountain? He can come back and get us when the eggs are hatching.”

Himchan hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”

Vita dropped his neck and allowed the two of them to climb on. Himchan mumbled something and then pointed at a mountain in the distance, then got off.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s your turn to navigate, Mr. Dragonborn,” Himchan said, climbing on behind him. He leaned in to whisper in Daehyun’s ear. “You don’t actually have to do anything. Just stay on.”

Daehyun gulped, then nodded. Himchan looped his arms around Daehyun’s waist and rested his cheek against Daehyun’s shoulder. They took off a moment later, and Daehyun held Himchan’s hand with one of his own, the other staying on Vita.

“See? It’s not so bad.”

“It’s only okay because you’re here,” Daehyun said.

“I’m sure, if you fell off, Vita would catch you within seconds. You have nothing to worry about, Daehyun.”

Daehyun nodded, letting out a heavy breath.

“The stars are pretty,” Himchan said. “Why are there stars, Daehyun?”

“According to dragon lore?”

“Yeah. Tell me all about them.”

“Well, legend has it that, at first, the only stars were the scales of the ancient dragon that withered into the ground. When they died, their bones sunk into the earth and created stone and metal, but their scales separated from their body and flew into the sky. They eventually stopped moving and just stayed there. The reason they glow is because of the magic still left in them. That’s also why people can cast spells. They just take magic from the stars, and, by casting, give it back to them. Every time, though, a little bit less magic is returned, and eventually, as with all things, the scales will wither, too, and meet the ancient dragon in another realm.”

“You said at first.”

Daehyun smiled. “You’re listening.”

“Of course I am.”

Daehyun’s smile grew and he continued. “The other stars come from fights of the dragon gods. They’re dragons that are extremely strong and extremely old. When the ancient dragon died and dragons first began to emerge, some leaders among those dragons emerged, too. They fought their way through the ranks and came out the victors. The stars are frozen breaths of theirs, left as remnants from the fights. That’s why some look more reddish; they’re fire. Yellowish stars are lightning, and bluish ones are either ice or water. White ones are light.”

“What about the dragons that were defeated?”

“They formed completely new places like ours called planets. Can you imagine it, Himchan? Other places with different dragons. What if earth dragons breathe there? What if they have, like, color dragons? What if those dragons just breathed color? What do you think they’d do, Himchan? Color dragons?”

Vita landed with a loud, echoing noise a moment later, but Daehyun’s excitement didn’t stop. He climbed off and grabbed Himchan’s hand the moment he was off. “Come on, Himchan. Color dragons. What do you think?”

“Well…” Himchan scratched the back of his neck. “What if yellow dragons could only breathe yellow? Each dragon can only breathe its own color, except for… Rainbow dragons? They could breathe all of them.”

Vita took off, but Daehyun was so happy that he didn’t notice. “Yes, yes! What does their breathing do, Himchan? What do you think?”

“I… Have no idea.”

“I do! What if they just made those colors… Brighter? Like, if a red dragon breathed onto a red dress, it’d make it more vibrant?”

“Then don’t we need dragons to counteract that?” Himchan said.

“Monochrome dragons! They suck the color out of things!”

“What if they breathe on a person?”

“The person can’t see in color, then!”

“Dang. That’d be terrible. I’m kind of glad they don’t exist on this planet.”

“Why?” Daehyun asked, curious. He tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrow at Himchan.

“Well…” Himchan thought for a second. “I like color. I think it’s really beautiful.” Daehyun smiled softly. “And your cheeks look cute in pink, and it’d be a shame not to be able to see that.”

Daehyun looked away, his cheeks burning gently. That was when he noticed the sky. “Oh my god, Himchan, look at that.” The sky danced with deep blues and purples that lit up the night. They moved in soft, gentle waves. “They look like dragons flying.”

“Is there lore for those, too?” Himchan asked.

“Yeah.” Daehyun sat down, tugging Himchan down with him. “They’re the wingbeats of dragon gods. That’s why they move like that,” he said, pointing at them. “They’re so beautiful.”

Himchan finally looked up at the sky, away from Daehyun’s face. (His nose looked especially cute in purple, could you blame him?) It was beautiful. He put his arm around Daehyun’s shoulders and pulled him closer. Daehyun happily snuggled in. He glanced up at Himchan, then looked back at the sky, and Himchan looked at the sky, too, watching as the colors changed from a deep purple to a royal blue. Daehyun pointed at stars and asked what color he thought they were, and Himchan would respond with a type of breath rather than a color. This, predictably, made Daehyun smile.

“Hey, Himchan, where are you from?” Daehyun asked, his voice quiet. “You seem to know a lot about me, but I don’t know much about you.”

“That’s because your story is a lot more interesting.”

“I doubt that.”

“Mm…” Himchan paused, then sighed. “You sure you want to know?” He pulled his arm away from Daehyun’s shoulders and pulled his knees up, holding them with his arms.

“Yeah. Only if you’re okay with telling me, though.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Himchan took his arm off of Daehyun’s shoulder. He brushed his hair behind his ear. “I keep my hair longer so nobody can tell.”

Daehyun tilted his head up, glancing at Himchan’s face - it looked nice in blue - before looking at his ear. It was a bit pointy. “I’m confused,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

“My mother was an elf, and my dad was a native of these lands. That’s why it’s only slightly pointy. I’m only half-elf.” He brushed Daehyun’s hair behind his ear. “You, on the other hand, have completely native blood. You and your round ears.”

He expected Daehyun to laugh, but instead he just tilted his head. “I think you and your slighlty pointy ears are cute.”

“Most people don’t.” Himchan flicked his hair so the tips of his ears were covered again.

Daehyun sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Yeah. We didn’t have much money growing up, either. My mother worked hard and raised me to work hard, too.” He chuckled. “Maybe that’s why I’m so possessive of the dragons.”

“You work really hard, Himchan. Thank you for that.” Daehyun squeezed Himchan’s hand, then brushed his hair back again. He said nothing, just looked with a certain curiousness for a moment. Then he lifted the hair and moved it back into its place. Himchan put his knees down again and Daehyun immediately snuggled up to him again. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“For what?” Himchan put his arms around Daehyun’s shoulders again.

“For being nice to me even though you never had to be. I didn’t know how to take care of the dragons and you’ve always been patient while teaching me.”

Himchan smiled. “I came here when I was ten to start training dragons. My mother knew one of the people that had just retired from here and sent me here. It was hard being away from her. People were always mean to her for being an elf, and mean to me for being half-elf, too. Always telling me to pick a side, choose an allegiance. I don’t even keep up with politics.” He chuckled. “She’d send a courier to bring me my favorite foods from home. In return, I had the courier send back one of the gems we’d mined here. No one ever noticed they were gone, and I figured it’d help out.”

“Have you seen her recently?”

“Yeah. I visited her a few months before you came back. She used the gems to establish a restaurant. She feeds the beggars for free, too. Could never bear to see anyone suffering. She was always so kind. And everyone loves her food. Elvish food is something else, I’m telling you. It’s like a gift from the dragon gods.”

Daehyun smiled at ‘dragon gods,’ then looked up at Himchan. “Maybe you could take me out to try some?”

“Sure, right after I take you to Avalia,” Himchan joked, but he wasn’t really joking. Daehyun smiled again.

Himchan’s arm moved to slowly to rub Daehyun’s back slowly, lulling him softly to sleep. A few moments later, the lights in the sky still illuminating his features, Daehyun fell asleep, and Himchan pulled him closer. He placed a soft kiss in his black hair, then looked up at the sky again, watching as the lights faded away. The stars twinkled brightly. The world was relatively silent.

And then Himchan heard a little thud. He looked around and saw Vita watching them. Vita seemed happy that they were so close, but a moment later he walked up and nuzzled Daehyun’s tummy. Daehyun woke up quickly. “Are they hatching?”

“Vita?” Himchan asked. Vita nodded his head at them, then lowered his neck. “Come on, then.”

“Can I sit in back this time?”

Two months and he still wasn’t used to flying. Himchan smiled. “Of course.”

The flight back was quiet, and Daehyun was, as per usual, snuggled up against Himchan and holding on tightly. When they landed, he raised his head slowly off of Himchan’s shoulder, as though he had just woken up again. Really, though, he just didn’t want to let go of Himchan.

The two of them stepped off and entered the ice dragon den, Himchan taking the torch off of the wall outside with them. Himchan took Daehyun’s hand and walked quickly, guiding him through various branches of tunnels and forks in the road.

“If you go the wrong way, you’ll end up in the lightning dragon den, you know,” Himchan said. “So don’t come down here without me, okay? I don’t want you to get lost.”

“Okay,” Daehyun said weakly. He was scared of being trapped and not being able to get out, so the idea of going down there alone was already gone.

Himchan stopped as though he heard something. “They’re hatching right now. You can hear them.”

“I can’t.”

“Stop moving and be quiet, then.”

Daehyun stopped and tilted his head towards where Himchan pointed. He could hear faint cracking noises and smiled. “Let’s go, then.”

The two of them kept walking, Himchan tugging Daehyun around gently the whole time. A few echoing footsteps later and they entered a cove where a bunch of small, white eggs were breaking open. Himchan put the torch in a sconce on the wall, then pulled Daehyun over to sit near them. A moment later, Daehyun turned around, hearing a soft padding.

“Calypso!” he exclaimed when he saw the little dragon padding towards him. “Did Vita get you?”

Calypso nuzzled into Daehyun’s arms and purred. A few baby dragons began to poke out of the eggs, fighting against the shells. “Okay, Lypso, we have work to do. Are you ready?”

Calypso hopped onto the ground next to Daehyun and made a determined rumbling noise, then sat down patiently. Daehyun turned back to look at the eggs and saw Himchan already wiping one down with a cloth and a bucket of water.

“Did you bring that here earlier?”

“Yeah,” Himchan said, focused on wiping the baby dragon off despite its loud whining noises. “I’m always prepared, Daehyun.”

“You work so hard,” Daehyun whispered. He gently scooped up a baby dragon and held it in front of Calypso, who gently sprayed the slime off. The three of them continued like that until they’d cleaned four baby dragons. Himchan seemed distraught, though.

“One’s not hatching well,” Himchan mumbled. He picked up an egg that only had a little piece broken out of it. The others had been split enough so that they’d been able to climb out, but this one was still in the shell. “Here, Daehyun.” He put it gently in Daehyun’s hands. “Just help them split the shell.”

Daehyun did as he was told, carefully putting pressure on the sides of the egg to crack it. The baby dragon climbed out a moment later. They were smaller than all of the others. “Lypso,” Daehyun mumbled, focused on the new baby. Calypso gently sprayed them down, then sniffed them curiously. Daehyun set them down. “They’re so small.”

“Yeah. Runt of the litter, I guess,” Himchan said.

“They’re mine.”

“What?”

Daehyun scooped up the smallest dragon again and held it to his chest. “Mine. I’m naming them, and I’m raising them.”

Himchan chuckled. “All right.”

“I’m going to name you Eira,” Daehyun said, nuzzling his nose against the baby dragon’s snout. “You’re my new baby.”

“That makes it sound like you have other babies. Like, human babies,” Himchan said. He stood up. “I forgot to bring the food down here. Will you stay here and watch them?”

Daehyun’s face paled. “We only have one torch.”

“Are you scared of the dark?” Himchan asked. His tone wasn’t mocking; it was caring and kind.

Daehyun dropped his gaze from Himchan’s, then looked around frantically. He stopped, putting Eira down and sighing. “Yeah,” he whispered. He didn’t look up until he saw a shadow above him.

Himchan kneeled down and hugged him tightly. “It’s okay,” Himchan whispered back. “Really, it is.”

Daehyun’s eyes widened for a moment before he squeezed Himchan. “Thank you.” He rested his head on Himchan’s shoulder for a second and closed his eyes, then let him go.

“I’ll be back soon,” Himchan said. “Keep an eye on them, okay?”

“Okay.” Daehyun watched as Himchan retreated into the darkness. He looked down at the baby dragons. They were all trying to walk and failing, falling forward onto their faces. They made tiny whining noises when they fell. They were only about six inches tall. He crossed his legs and scooped them all up, placing them in his lap. “You’re Diamond, and you’re Spirit, and you’re Moon, and you’re Aria, and you’re Calypso, and you’re Eira, and you’re Button. Those are your names. Do you remember them? Good, because I don’t.” He laughed quietly. “Except for you,” he said, pointing at Eira, “and you.” He pointed at Calypso. Calypso responded by licking his finger.

The dragons stumbled around on his lap, trying to gain a sense of balance. He made sure to catch them before they fell off. He watched as some of them stretched their wings out (one of them hit another in the face). They sure made a lot of whining noises.

Himchan did return quickly, as Daehyun learned when he heard a thud behind him, causing him to jolt. One of the dragons fell off of his lap, but Calypso caught it on his back, making a growling noise at the unexpected impact.

“Sorry. Did I scare you?” Himchan asked. He sat down and hugged Daehyun. “I brought the food.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just goat’s milk.”

“Why goat’s milk?”

“Because we have a lot of goats nearby, Daehyun.” Himchan pulled a small bottle out of a box beside him. “Nothing special about it.”

“Is that what dragons eat?”

“When they’re little, yeah. When they get older, they need meat. Which, again, we feed them from goats.”

“Oh. Okay.” Daehyun grabbed a bottle from the box and cradled Eira in the crook of his elbow, then gently and slowly tipped the bottle back into their mouth. Himchan glanced at Daehyun and smiled. He was cooing quietly at Eira, making little faces. After he finished feeding Eira, instead of setting them down, he picked up another dragon and placed them next to Eira. They were all small, so he could have fit three in one arm if he wanted to. He started feeding the new one with a new bottle, then looked around for another, but Himchan had the other three cradled in his lap. Calypso bounded into Daehyun’s lap and nuzzled under his arms to be with the other dragons.

“Now what?” Daehyun asked, breaking the silence.

“We wait.”

“For what?”

“For them to fall asleep. They’re really tired even though they just hatched. Those shells are thick when you’re only six inches tall and have baby muscles. They worked hard,” Himchan said, his voice soft and caring.

“How long will they sleep for?”

“Honestly? Longer than you,” Himchan said. He felt a spurt of water on his cheek and furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look at Calypso. “Really?”

Calypso rumbled at Himchan, then looked at Daehyun like he was waiting for praise. Daehyun stroked his head with two fingers and then held his hand out. Calypso hit it with his paw.

“You two,” Himchan mumbled, shaking his head. “They sleep for a full day the first time.”

“Oh my god, that is longer than I sleep.”

“Yeah. So we basically have a day off.”

“Nice!”

“Set them down.” Himchan started scooping up the egg shells, three little dragons stumbling around on the floor. “They’re drowsy. They’ll fall asleep soon. I’m going to get rid of the shells. I’ll be back.” He stood up and began walking away.

“Wait,” Daehyun said. Himchan stopped, turning around. Daehyun walked up to him. “Um. Request. Can I, uh…”

“You want to keep one?”

Daehyun scratched his neck sheepishly. “Yeah.”

“Go for it, but make sure you clean it out. If you don’t, it’ll smell bad and they’ll try to climb back into it.”

“Okay.” Daehyun looked quickly and grabbed the one that Eira had come out of. He took it back and sat down near Calypso, asking him to spray it out with water. Himchan left the cave slowly, still leaving the torch behind.

He walked out of the entrance of the cave, carrying the egg shells to the edge of the mountain. He dropped them off of the side. Vita came up to him and nuzzled his snout against Himchan’s arm. He seemed happy. Himchan smiled and returned to the cave. He saw Daehyun cooing at the dragons again and shook his head. They were all asleep and Calypso was nuzzled up with them.

“Daehyun,” Himchan called out quietly. “Hey. The sun will be coming up in a bit.”

“Really?” Daehyun stood up and turned around to face him.

“Yeah.” He grabbed the torch off of the wall. “I have to go into town. Do you want to come with me?”

“Which town?”

“Cresacia. It’s a bit far, but it’s not terrible.”

“What are you going there for?”

“It’s where my mom lives.” He smiled. “You could try some Elvish food.”

“I thought you were taking me to Avalia first,” Daehyun teased, taking Himchan’s hand as they began walking.

“Well, I guess I lied, then,” Himchan said. “If I get someone to look after them for a few days, we could go to Avalia first, though.”

Daehyun’s eyes widened and he began to shake his head. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It sounds like fun, though, doesn’t it?” Himchan raised his hand and Vita came over quickly, dipping his neck. “Let’s see if we could get someone from another camp to look after them.” He let Daehyun get on first, then pulled himself up, sitting in front of Daehyun. “He hates to admit it, but Youngjae’s actually a softie for baby dragons.” Daehyun looped his arms around Himchan’s waist, though Himchan couldn’t be sure if it was for safety or not. “I bet we could get him to do it, especially since Venia can take care of her own babies just fine.”

“That’d be nice of him,” Daehyun said. “I hope he’s willing to. I really want to go to Avalia.”

“I know you do. I bet you even speak sign language.”

“I do!” Daehyun said cheerily. “I studied it when I started reading about Avalia. I can tell the story of Desnia and Sayma in sign language.”

Himchan shook his head, smiling. “Of course. Do you speak any other languages?”

“Dragon language,” Daehyun said. Himchan turned his head to look at him, unable to tell if he was joking. Daehyun’s smile gave it away, though. “I’m kidding. I do speak some others, though.”

“Like what?”

Daehyun rested his chin on Himchan’s shoulder, smiling. “Guess.”

“Oh, god, Daehyun, I can’t guess.”

“Well, what languages do you speak, besides this one?”

“My mother taught me Tyrivon Elvish, but I…” Himchan trailed off. “No.”

“Yes,” Daehyun said.

“You do not speak Tyrivon Elvish.”

“I do.”

“How did you know I spoke Tyrivon Elvish?”

“You have the faintest accent, and I’d been trying to place it since I met you. Then you told about your mom, and I was pretty sure it was either Tyrivon Elvish or Ethian Elvish, both of which I speak.”

“To be fair, there aren’t many differences. You could speak Tyrivon Elvish to someone who spoke Ethian Elvish and they’d understand you.”

“Yeah, but the writing is a minor hell,” Daehyun mumbled. “At some point-”

“Ethia changed their writing system completely-”

“And transliterated their old documents with the new script-”

“And burned them afterwards because of the-”

“Invasion from Lyriftin,” they finished together. Himchan smiled while Daehyun continued.

“Lyriftin forcefully took over and ruled in Ethia for so long that everyone forgot the old system. When they pushed the Lyrift rules out, no one wanted to go back to the old system because no one could read it.”

“I can’t believe you know Elvish history.”

“I lived on a farm for twenty years doing nothing but having my friend steal books for me from the Royal Library in the town nearby,” Daehyun said. “Of course, he was part of the royal family, so he didn’t mind.”

“Steal?”

“It’s illegal for peasants to receive education. At least, it was where I lived.” Daehyun looked off at the sky. “Anyways, when you said your mother lived in Cresacia, I guessed it was Tyrivon Elvish because of the mass migration there after the war a few centuries back.”

“Well, aren’t you smart?” Himchan asked.

Daehyun lit up. “I guess I am,” he whispered.

The sun was beginning to peek out into the sky. It was still mostly dark, but the clouds were beginning to line themselves in the orange reflection from its light. Vita landed on the mountain, then let Himchan and Daehyun get off. Daehyun patted Vita’s neck, then joined Himchan to look for Youngjae.

“I forgot it’s so late,” Himchan said. “He might be asleep.”

“Who might be asleep?” someone said. Daehyun turned to face the voice.

“Hey, Yongguk,” Himchan said. “Is Youngjae awake?”

“Youngjae? Yeah, he is. He went to sleep early last night, so he’s been up for a bit.”

“Great!” Daehyun cheered. Yongguk turned to face him.

“Hey, Daehyun. So, what do you two need Youngjae for?”

“I want to take Daehyun to Avalia, but I need Youngjae to look after the newborns for a few days.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll do that. He’s actually really upset because we haven’t had any dragons hatch recently. I can go get him for you.”

“That’d be great,” Himchan said. He smiled at Yongguk, then held Daehyun’s hand as the two of them waited.

“Hey, Daehyun, what would have happened if the guards knew you were reading books?”

Daehyun hesitated. “I’d have been thrown in prison. It’s a serious offense.”

“Well, I’m glad you weren’t caught.” Himchan rubbed Daehyun’s hand with his thumb.

“So am I.”

“Hey, guys!” Youngjae called as he jogged up to them. “What’s up?”

“We’re going to Avalia for a couple of days,” Himchan said. “But we just had a batch of ice dragons hatch. Would you-”

“Take care of them?” Youngjae finished excitedly. “Yes. Of course.”

“Told you,” Himchan said to Daehyun. He waved for Youngjae to follow them. Vita almost knocked Youngjae over in his excitement when he saw him.

“Hey, Vita, how are you?” Youngjae laughed happily when Vita nuzzled up against him. “I’m spending a few days at your camp.”

Himchan tugged Daehyun behind him immediately, anticipating Vita’s response. Vita, as predicted, started flapping his wings wildly. Himchan braced against the wind.

“He does that when he gets excited,” Himchan said to Daehyun, who was staring at everyone with wide eyes. “Come on, let’s get on.”

“Who’s flying?”

“Youngjae is, by the way Vita won’t get away from him.” Daehyun looked at Vita, who was running in circles around Youngjae excitedly. Daehyun smiled.

“All right, guys, let’s go,” Youngjae shouted. Vita stopped running and bowed his neck. Daehyun got on first, then Himchan, then Youngjae. Daehyun immediately put his arms around Himchan’s waist and they took off.

“So, why are you going to Avalia?” Youngjae asked.

“Daehyun wanted to visit, and I promised to take him there. He also speaks sign language.”

“Are you going to have him bribe the royal family, then?”

“Yeah. Daehyun, get all of the books from them you want.”

“I’ve probably read them all already,” Daehyun said.

“I bet you have,” Himchan said. “Daehyun speaks Tyrivon Elvish, Youngjae.”

“Well, isn’t he a great person to take home to your mother, then?” Youngjae teased.

“Actually, I am taking him home to my mother after we go to Avalia,” Himchan responded, ignoring Youngjae’s tone. “I wanted him to try some Elvish food, and I was going to visit her anyways.”

“Oh, you’re in luck, Daehyun. Himchan’s mother makes the best Elvish food there is. He brought me with him to his mother’s house once, too, and I think it was the best day of my life.”

“Well, I’m excited,” Daehyun said.

“I can’t believe I get to take care of five baby ice dragons. Five. And they just hatched?”

“Today, yeah.”

“This is going to be great. I’m so excited. And, of course, Vita will help me out if I need it, right?” Youngjae leaned down to pat Vita’s neck. Vita purred in response, flying much faster than usual.

They landed only about a minute later. Youngjae got off at the camp and waved goodbye to Himchan and Daehyun. Vita took off again, heading towards Avalia. Daehyun watched as the sun came up, painting the sky a gradient of colors throughout its journey.

Daehyun and Himchan discussed Elvish history on the way there. They shared some bread and cheese that Himchan had grabbed before leaving. It really was a short trip. They were there by midday. Himchan had had to make Vita land on a hill nearby so they wouldn’t disturb the locals.

Daehyun looked out to Avalia from the hill. At this angle, since it was a bit far away, he couldn’t see over the wall surrounding the city, but he could see the guards running along it. He watched as a few of them swung their swords at wooden dummies and shot arrows at hay targets. On the door, there was a circle painted. Inside the circle were two holding hands, one with a ring with gemstones circling another, larger gemstone. Avalia’s symbol, Sayma and Desnia. He was giddy with excitement.

Himchan told Vita to come back in three days to take them to Cresacia, then kissed the crown of his head and said goodbye. Daehyun hugged Vita’s neck and waved until he couldn’t see Vita in the distance any more.

Daehyun practically ran down the hill and bounced around excitedly as he waited for Himchan to walk with him to the town. It wasn’t far away, but Daehyun didn’t want to go by himself. He looked at the land around him. There was just a stone road with some farms nearby, but they reminded him of home. He took Himchan’s hand once he caught up.

“Hey, Daehyun, could you do me a favor?” Himchan said as they walked.

“Yeah, sure. What is it?”

“Don’t mention anything about Elves in the town. Most people there are kind, but some of them won’t respond well, and I’d rather just avoid it.”

“Okay.” Daehyun squeezed Himchan’s hand.

They walked through the city gate after gaining clearance by the guards, though one of them seemed skeptical until Daehyun started signing. Himchan smiled at Daehyun’s seemingly-endless knowledge.

“Oh my god, Himchan,” Daehyun said when they set their feet on the ground in the town. “It’s huge.”

Daehyun had been a farm boy, so he was used to vast expanses of dirt and grass, but Avalia was something else.

The first thing you could see when you stepped into Avalia was the roads. The stones in the roads were an off-white, colored brown in some places by mud from peoples’ feet, but they were clearly regularly cleaned. Avalia had a crisp, cool appearance to keep, as its main colors were white and red. The roads went in every direction. Daehyun was bouncing with excitement. There were children playing games and dogs running around in the streets. Himchan tugged Daehyun forward, temporarily snapping him out of his awe.

The town square was filled with shouts from vendors trying to sell food and jewelry. It was home to commoners complaining about politics and worshippers preaching about religions. There was a fountain in the center. Daehyun watched as a kid flipped a gold piece into it, and then as a beggar grabbed the money from the fountain when the kid had left. A young woman sat on the edge of the fountain, eyes closed as she sang. A few people were watching and listening to her intently, and some put money in a wooden bowl she’d set beside her. There was a huge inn for visitors to stay in in front of them. On the right, there were a few stores. Himchan pulled him into one of them.

“Hello,” someone called when they entered. The shopkeeper smiled at them. “What can I do for you?”

“This is a trader,” he said to Daehyun, noticing his confusion about the store. He saw various pelts on the wall and a few small swords and daggers in cases, as well as some books and clothing on shelves. Himchan turned back to the shopkeeper. “What can I get for these?” He pulled a few gemstones out of his pocket and placed them on the counter. The shopkeeper gasped.

“You’re one of those rich dragon tamers,” they mumbled. “Here.” They pulled out five bags of gold and set them on the table with a heavy thud.

“Thank you,” Himchan said. “Oh, can I buy a knapsack?”

“Take one,” they said, putting a few on the table. “Actually, take two. One for yourself and one for your boyfriend. You’re making us rich, you know.”

“You’re very welcome,” Himchan said. He turned to see Daehyun blushing. “Take your pick, boyfriend.”

“Um.” Daehyun looked at the bags on the counter. He reached for one with a black dragon painted onto the leather, but then stopped. He grabbed another one with a small, circular symbol that extended out to curl all over the knapsack. In the middle of the circle were the same two hands that had been on the door. He smiled happily. “Avalia’s symbol,” he whispered to Himchan.

“All right,” Himchan said, smiling. He, in turn, grabbed the one with the black dragon on it. Himchan opened it and put the bags of gold in, then slung it onto his shoulders. Daehyun put his on his back, too, and walked with him out the door.

“They called me your boyfriend. You called me your boyfriend.”

Himchan shrugged, then smiled. He squeezed Daehyun’s hand tightly. “Come on. To the inn.”

They walked into the inn. There were performers singing and playing instruments in the main hall. Merry people were drinking and eating together on benches lining the walls. Candles held by metal molds hanging from the ceiling helped illuminate the place. Flowers of different colors lined the walls. Daehyun froze in the doorway. Himchan had to tug him up to the counter.

“Do you have any rooms available?” Himchan asked.

“Depends how long you’re staying and what you want.”

“Two nights. Any room will do.”

“All right. That’ll be thirty gold, then.”

Himchan pulled out thirty gold pieces, which was only about a third of one bag, and placed it on the counter. The innkeeper took the money.

“I’ll show you to your room.” They left the counter to guide them down the main hall and to the left, then up a flight of stairs. A few turns later, they were at a set of doors. The innkeeper handed Himchan a key. “Here you are.”

“Thank you,” Himchan said. He stuck the key in his knapsack as the innkeeper walked away. “We can come here later. For now, let’s do whatever you want to do.”

“Oh my god, Himchan, I want to do everything.”

“Do you want to visit the Keep?”

Daehyun tilted his head in confusion.

“Whiterose Keep. It’s the castle. It’s huge. We can visit as long as we don’t go into the King’s Quarters.”

“Can we go into the library?” Daehyun’s eyes were sparkling.

Himchan smiled. “Maybe. And if we can’t, there are a few bookstores around here.”

Daehyun’s eyes widened. “Commoners can read here?”

“Yeah. We have enough gold to buy a ton of books, so if you can find any you haven’t read, I’ll buy them.”

Daehyun hugged Himchan, throwing his arms around his neck. “You’re my favorite. Thank you so much.”

Himchan hugged him back, squeezing him tightly. “No problem.”

Daehyun pulled back after a few moments, then grabbed Himchan’s hand. “Can we just… Look around for a bit?”

“I was the same way,” Himchan said, smiling, “when I came here for the first time. It’s a really beautiful city.” He slowly guided Daehyun back through the halls and down the stairs. Daehyun tapped on his shoulder twice, then pointed at the performers, signaling that he wanted to listen to them for a bit. Himchan put his arm around Daehyun’s shoulders and pulled him in closer. Daehyun leaned his head against Himchan’s shoulder and closed his eyes dreamily, silently soaking in the music in the room. There were strings meshing wonderfully with vocals telling the tales of Avalia that he recognized so well. Himchan moved his arm to rest his hand on Daehyun’s waist and rested his head on Daehyun’s. The two of them stood there together until the song ended.

Daehyun straightened up perkily, a smile crossing his face. “Okay.”

“You’re done for now?”

“Yeah,” Daehyun said. “Come on, let’s go!” He grabbed Himchan’s hand and walked with him out of the doors of the inn.

“Where to next?”

Daehyun glanced up into the sky, shielding his eyes with his hand. The sun was only about halfway into the sky. He looked at the fountain. “Can I have a coin?”

“You want to make a wish?”

Daehyun tilted his head. “Why would I make a wish?”

“You flip coins into fountains and make a wish. It used to be to make offerings to gods. Dragon gods.”

Daehyun smiled giddily. “Give me a gold piece.”

Himchan pulled out the already-opened bag and handed it to Daehyun. “You can put it in your knapsack after you’re done.”

Daehyun fished one out and then slipped his bag off of one shoulder, swinging it in front of him. He put the rest of the gold in and tied the strings shut, then put it back on.

He placed the piece daintily on his knuckle, tucking his thumb underneath it. He took a deep breath, then flipped it. He watched as the sunlight caught on it and made it shine white.  He quickly squeezed his eyes shut and mouthed something. The little splashing noise it made when it landed in the water made him smile and he opened his eyes.

“Did you make a wish?”

“Yup,” Daehyun said. “Do I have to tell you what it was?”

“No. It’s better if you don’t, actually,” Himchan said. “It breaks the magic if you tell someone.”

“Okay.” Daehyun smiled softly.

“I bet it was about Eira. Or color dragons.” He slipped his hand into Daehyun’s.

“You’re wrong.” Daehyun looked around. “This way,” he said, pointing to the right. There was a set of stairs with a huge, white arch towering above. Flowers and plants decorated the arch, and little sculptures of hands were carved into it. Himchan walked up the stairs with Daehyun, smiling at his excitement and pondering his wish.

Daehyun gasped when they reached the top. There was a huge tree covering the entire area. Small fruits Daehyun had never seen before hung from the branches. The leaves were green and gold and red, and the trunk of the tree had different stripes of color running up it. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting shadow on just about everything. Daehyun looked at Himchan. The light danced on his face as the leaves continually shifted. He looked back at the tree. It seemed to shine and glimmer.

It was situated in the middle of a stone plaza. There was a ring of water surrounding the area, and little bridges were built to cross them. It was purely to look pretty, and, in Daehyun’s opinion, it worked well. It looked as if the tree was growing from the white stone itself; as though it was strong enough to break through the stone and plant its roots and grow where no tree could, almost like a legend.

“This is the tree of life,” Daehyun whispered.

“No,” Himchan said. “This is the world’s greatest illusion.”

“What?”

“It’s a tree. In reality, it’s only about as tall as you are.” Himchan ruffled Daehyun’s hair. “It’s a lot shorter than it looks. But magic is powerful, and it’s making that tree look a lot different than it is.” He pulled Daehyun up to the trunk, crossing a little bridge over a small ring of water surrounding the area. “It looks like there’s red, white, brown, black, and gold streaks of wood, but if you touch it, it’ll fade for a little bit.” He pressed Daehyun’s hand against the wood. Daehyun looked up quickly as the leaves fluttered off of the tree. The branches pulled back into the tree and what stood in front of them was a small tree, brown with green leaves.

“Oh my god,” Daehyun breathed out. “It’s… It’s tiny.”

Himchan raised an eyebrow. “It’s as tall as you are.”

“Okay, well, it’s small for a tree, and it was huge a second ago.”

“Nope. It never was.”

“Okay, _well_ , it looked huge a second ago.” Daehyun stuck his tongue out at Himchan. Himchan returned the gesture.

“It still looks huge to everyone else,” Himchan said. “The illusion is individual.”

“So this is what magic can do,” Daehyun mumbled.

Himchan smiled. “You know, you can read about it in the library. You can’t practice magic, but you can read about it.”

“Can we go there now?” Daehyun asked. He seemed deep in thought.

“Of course. It’s behind the tree.”

Daehyun glanced back at the tree as they walked by it. He smiled when the leaves flew out again and the tree glowed with color.

They went up some stairs by a pool of water and a small waterfall that filled the little moat around the tree. At the top of the stairs was a long expanse of stone on the right, followed by more stairs on the left that went up even further.

“It’s huge,” Daehyun whispered.

“There’s a lot of big stuff in big cities, Daehyun,” Himchan said, chuckling.

The castle was constructed with white stone and reddish wood. The entrance was another refined stone bridge. Daehyun looked over the edge of the railing at the water below. It was a simple, untainted blue that matched well with the white stone. At the bottom of the pool, Daehyun thought he could faintly see some etchings in the stone. He furrowed his eyebrows, then stood up again, putting it out of mind for a while.

Above the bridge was a series of tall, white arches, made of white wood with red accents. The arches were decorated with flowers and the hands of the symbol of Avalia in the center. The castle itself was taller than Venia by a landslide. It was probably double her size. Daehyun swore he was more likely to get lost in that castle than in all of the caves back at the camp.

They waited at the castle door for the guards to let them in. Daehyun confirmed that they were visitors to the guards, and the door was pushed open. The ceiling was extremely high. The floors were wooden and the walls were stone.

“So up the stairs and straight is the throne,” Himchan said. “On the right is their Court Wizard and the library’s on the left.”

“Left,” Daehyun said quickly. “Left, left, left.” He tugged Himchan up the wooden stairs, taking two at a time. He barely looked at the area around him as he dashed up. All he saw was a large, regal throne, a fire, and a few people looking distraught. They veered left quickly once they reached the top.

“Can we read these books?” Himchan asked the guard outside. When the guard nodded, Daehyun pulled Himchan in quickly. The ceiling was significantly lower in that room. Bookshelves lined each wall. In the center of the room was a table with candles, and candles hung from the ceiling. It was simple so it wouldn’t distract the readers.

Daehyun let go of Himchan’s hand and began to look around excitedly. Himchan walked over to him and looked at some of the books he was running his fingers across. He was mumbling to himself quietly.

“I’ve read all of these,” he whispered. He stopped, jerking his head. “No. No, I haven’t.” He reached up for a book. Himchan couldn’t read the spine because it was in another language. Daehyun pulled it down and flipped open the cover. “What’s this doing here?”

“What language is that?”

“Voscarian,” Daehyun replied while flipping through the pages. “Oh my god, Himchan. It’s about every kind of dragon ever recorded.”

“When did you learn Voscarian?” Himchan asked, moving to look at the book. He couldn’t read the script at all, but Daehyun was soaking it in almost effortlessly.

“When I was around fourteen. I haven’t been studying it lately, though.”

“You don’t seem to be struggling at all.”

“It’s very similar to Vertan.”

“How many languages do you speak?”

“Himchan, look at this,” Daehyun said, flipping to a page near the back of the book. There was a dragon on the page that seemed to be in three different colors, but he couldn’t tell because it was sketched in graphite. “It says it’s pink, blue, and yellow.”

“What’s it called?”

“It doesn’t have a name.” Daehyun moved his finger along the page, scanning the words quickly. “It’s a… Pride Dragon? I’ve never heard of Pride Dragons before.” He flipped a couple pages. “Oh my god, look at this one. It’s red and blue.” He flipped a few more pages, scanning the words, and continued flipping. “Ah. They’re called Pride Dragons because they boast their vibrant colors. They’re considered to be very high-class dragons. They don’t breathe anything.”

“And they’re real?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Daehyun closed the book, sliding it back into the shelf. “They’re not in this region of the world, though.”

“Where are they?”

“Ibea. Do you know where that is?”

“Isn’t that on the other side of the country?”

“Nope. It’s on the other side of this landmass. It’s extremely far away, and, unfortunately, it and its neighboring countries have been engaged in an on-and-off war for decades.” Daehyun sighed. “We’ll never get to see them.”

“Hey, they might not always be at war,” Himchan said. “Maybe they left and moved somewhere else with all of the chaos.”

“That’s true.” He went back to searching the shelves. Himchan looked at the shelves and pulled a book down. Daehyun looked at it. He smiled softly. “A complete cookbook of Elvish recipes.”

“I think my mother actually wrote some of these,” Himchan said. “Yeah, this one. And this one…” He continued to flip through the pages, pointing at various dishes. Daehyun smiled.

There were books on dragon history and mythology, cookbooks, spell tomes, political novels, histories of empires across the country, and more. Daehyun had to admit, this was quite a collection. He sat down on the floor and flipped open a book. Himchan sat beside him and rested his head on Daehyun’s shoulder. Since a lot of them were in foreign languages, Daehyun read them aloud to Himchan. He kept pulling books off the shelf and stacking them beside him. He’d summarize a lot of things, but when it came to the folk tales and myths, he’d read every word with perfect pronunciation and clarity. His voice carried the tone of the stories well as he got sucked into them. Himchan fell into the stories, too.

They realized how long they’d been in there when a woman came in to relight the candles. Daehyun awkwardly closed the book he was holding and stood up, then began shelving the books he’d taken. Himchan helped, handing him the books from the pile.

Daehyun rubbed his eyes when they were done. “It’s probably nighttime.”

“The sun’s already down,” the woman confirmed. “You boys can stay, but it’s probably best if you get some sleep.”

“Yes, we will,” Himchan said. “Thank you, Miss.”

“You’re welcome.” She watched as Daehyun and Himchan left the room, Daehyun slowly lacing his fingers together with Himchan’s. “He’s in love.” She smiled, then continued lighting the candles.

“I don’t remember how to get back,” Daehyun said, scratching his neck. They opened the door of Whiterose Keep and went outside. “Wow, the stars are pretty.”

“Yeah, they are,” Himchan said. He let out a satisfied sigh. “They remind me of you.”

Daehyun turned his head to look at Himchan, furrowing his eyebrows. “How so?”

“Your eyes light up when you start talking about mythology or dragons. It’s like they have little stars in them.”

Daehyun smiled, saying nothing. He slowly walked down the stairs, Himchan at his side. They walked until they reached the magical tree. Daehyun stopped there. Himchan turned to look at him. A torch on one of the bridge’s arches illuminated his face.

“I don’t want to keep doing stuff without telling you this,” he said. Himchan’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion and he moved to stand in front of Daehyun, folding his arms. “Just in case it makes you uncomfortable.”

Himchan said nothing, nodding at him to continue.

“Here’s the thing.” He looked to the right at the tree, then back at Himchan. “Our first day, you were kind of aggressive at first. Understandably so. You just wanted to keep the dragons safe. But after a little bit…” He dropped his eyes and began wringing his wrists in anxiousness. “You became really nice to me. You were really caring and kind.” He looked at Himchan for reassurance and received a little smile. “Thank you for that.”

“Of course, Daehyun,” Himchan said.

“And I think…” Daehyun looked back at the tree, breathing deeply. He looked back at Himchan, his eyes filled with fragile confidence. “I’ve fallen for you.”

Himchan’s smile fell and he uncrossed his arms, letting them drop to his sides. He looked at Daehyun for a moment, gauging the sincerity in his eyes. Then, a tiny smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He kept it down and took one of Daehyun’s hands in his own, using the other to cup his cheek. His hand was warm and his touch was gentle, and it left tiny sparks on his nerves. Daehyun’s eyes widened as Himchan leaned in, his eyes closing.

Daehyun’s heart was racing as Himchan’s lips touched his own. He froze for a moment, then let his eyes flutter shut, completely melting, holding Himchan’s waist with his hand. He tilted his chin up a bit, pressing his lips harder against Himchan’s. They were soft against his own. The chatter of guards and of townsfolk was drowned out in the moment. He felt oddly calm, contrary to what his heart was telling him. He let go of Himchan’s hand to hold the back of his neck, and Himchan cupped his other cheek. His touch was so, so gentle, like he was afraid of damaging something precious and delicate.

His touch was still gentle when he pulled his lips away slowly. He looked into Daehyun’s eyes again, trying to read his expression. Daehyun opened his eyes slowly, then smiled gently. He let his head fall forward, resting on Himchan’s shoulder.

“You’re such a good person to fall for,” Daehyun mumbled. He looked up. Himchan smiled and looped his arms around Daehyun’s waist, pulling him close. Daehyun hugged him back tightly, still smiling, eyes closed in satisfaction. They let go of each other after a moment and linked their fingers together again. Himchan led Daehyun back to the inn slowly, pointing at various things just to see Daehyun smile in delight at the unknown. They said few words on the way back but shared a lot of smiles.

“Are you hungry?” Himchan asked when they got inside.

“Oh.” Daehyun smiled. “Yeah, probably. It’s been a long time since we last ate. I didn’t even notice. I got so caught up in the books.”

“Yeah, you did. Is there anything you can’t eat? Allergies or anything?” Himchan led him back into the dining hall. There was food available any hour of the day, though what kind varied.

“Nope.” Daehyun sat down at a table that Himchan guided him to.

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” He left the room to go find the cook, returning a moment later with two bowls and a plate. “You okay with beef stew?”

“Of course,” Daehyun said cheerily. Daehyun waited until Himchan was seated beside him to eat. They ate quickly and in silence until they finished.

“They had apple pie.” Himchan slid the plate over. He cut it into eight pieces, the split each of those in half. He took one of those small pieces and popped it into his mouth.

“What’s apple pie?” Daehyun asked. “I’ve never had it before.”

“Well, try some.” Himchan handed Daehyun the fork.

Daehyun tentatively ate a piece, then smiled widely. “It’s delicious.”

“Still not as good as any Elvish food I’ve had, but it’s pretty good.” Himchan took the fork and fed Daehyun a piece. They ate half of it, and then took the rest with them, taking a cloth to cover it with. They went up the stairs to their room, and Himchan fished out the key. He unlocked the doors and pushed them open, sliding his bag off of his shoulders. Daehyun looked around the room. It was dark because they hadn’t lit a candle, and they weren’t going to since they were about to go to sleep, so he couldn’t see much in detail. There was a small, round table with a chair, a wardrobe, and a bed. Himchan was already setting his stuff down on the table. Daehyun followed suit.

“We need to buy clothes tomorrow,” Himchan said, “but for now, we’ll be fine.” He walked over and closed the doors, locking them. “You want the bed?”

“What?” Daehyun blinked in confusion.

“I’ll sleep in the chair.”

“What? No. You’re sleeping on the bed.”

“I’m not letting you sleep in the chair, Daehyun.” Himchan turned to face him, crossing his arms sternly.

Daehyun made a quiet whining noise and walked over to Himchan, grabbing his arm and pouting. “Can’t we just share the bed? I mean, I already sleep with you all the time. There’s just a bed there instead of Vita.”

Himchan let his arms fall, then smiled. He leaned down and pressed his lips against Daehyun’s cheek. “Okay. That’s more than fine with me.”

Daehyun blushed, then pulled Himchan over to lie down. He crawled on top of Himchan to press a quick kiss to his lips, then snuggled into Himchan’s arms immediately, resting his head on his chest. “Good night, Himchan.”

He could feel Himchan press a kiss to his hair, then pull the blanket up on top of them. “Good night, Daehyun.”

“You know, we should kiss more,” Daehyun whispered.

“That actually reminds me that I lied to you,” Himchan whispered back.

Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then moved to look at Himchan in the dark. “About what?”

“I did actually have a dream yesterday.” Daehyun looked even more confused, so Himchan continued. “I don’t remember much of it, but it was basically… This.” Himchan slid his fingers under Daehyun’s shirt and tickled his stomach, making him laugh loudly. He stopped quickly to cup Daehyun’s cheeks again. “I lied again. It was this.”

He connected their lips again, moving one of his hands to play gently with Daehyun’s hair. He was always so gentle, and it made Daehyun’s heart beat unfairly quickly. Daehyun melted into his touch again, almost struggling to hold himself up over Himchan because of how weak he made him. He pressed his lips back against Himchan’s gently, fighting the urge to smile coming from the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. He moved one of his hands to run his fingers along Himchan’s cheek softly. He pulled away a moment later with a smile.

“I guess dreams come true,” he said, settling into Himchan’s arms.

“Yeah,” Himchan whispered. “I guess they do.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally posted on my tumblr account, http://daehyuns-leggings.tumblr.com/ so if you see it there, nobody stole it. and, on that topic, hello! i guess this is my "ao3 debut" if that's a big deal here or whatever. i used to post my work on tumblr, and i probably still will, but i made this account for a few reasons: 1) it's more organized and easy to navigate, probably. i've never used ao3 before so i wouldn't know, but i'm going to guess that's true anyways. 2) people will see my work more on here since this place is meant for fan fiction specifically. and 3) a greater audience means i'm more likely to write and be motivated to write. so, yeah!


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